Fool
by rinnenotsubasa
Summary: It was rare for Jihoon to space out like that. Something caught him—a smell of ginger coming out from a very tall guy—and now he's lost. He cursed himself for being such a fool, but then he started to realize that it's not such a bad thing after all. SEVENTEEN: Woozi, Mingyu, Jeonghan, Wonwoo, Jun, Joshua, Hoshi. Featuring JiGyu/GyuHun, Minghan, Meanie, WonHui, JiHan, SoonHoon.
1. Ginger

Notes:

 **SEVENTEEN.**

 **Characters: Lee Jihoon/Woozi, Kim Mingyu, Yoon Jeonghan, Jeon Wonwoo, Wen Junhui, Hong Jisoo, Kwon Soonyoung.**

 **Pairings: Jihoon/Mingyu, Mingyu/Jeonghan, Mingyu/Wonwoo, Wonwoo/Jun, Jihoon/Soonyoung, Jisoo/Jeonghan**

This all started when my friend passed me a prompt which says "I was walking behind this guy with nice smelling cologne for a while then realized I was lost." (I have no idea where my friend got that prompt)

Woozi was the first member that came to my mind when I read that prompt so I'm starting this with a chapter focused on Woozi.

Then I came up with this crazy idea that involves so many relationships (romantic and not). So each chapter might feature different main characters.

Also inspired by a song called "Fool" from Yoga Lin. _"Being a fool would be so wonderful. I don't understand and don't need to understand. Just let me be this way until I grow old."_ (English translation from asianpopweekly)

Crossposted from AO3 because I want to meet new readers and fellow *ehem*passengers in the bus to Diamond hell*ehem* fans.

* * *

 **Ginger**

" _Where am I?"_

Jihoon looked around but recognized nothing. He was standing on the side of a road, in front of a curry restaurant. He stood at the very end of the building, careful to not block the entrance of the small restaurant. His large red backpack still attached on his back, while his dark green duffel bag is on the ground right next to his feet.

Winter has yet to come, but the coldness has started to creep in. Jihoon wore a thin long-sleeve shirt and a trainer. It would do just fine in the south, but definitely not here. He should've changed into more suitable clothes before coming here.

The street in front of him was filled with people. Some men and women in suits, walking fast with a suitcase at one hand and a phone at the other. Some teenagers in their uniforms, walking in groups and chatting excitedly. Mothers with shopping bags full of groceries. Each one of them looked as if they were in their own worlds. Worlds unfamiliar to Jihoon.

Jihoon looked to his right, to where the street went on and on until it disappeared into a crowd of tall buildings. It was also the direction which that ginger guy went.

Jihoon has just got off from the bus when he saw the ginger guy. Well, to be exact, when he _smelled_ the ginger guy. It was like an automatic reaction. His feet moved towards the guy and he ended up following him.

The ginger guy was big. Jihoon's head barely reach the guy's shoulders. Jihoon might be small with 164 cm height, but he didn't think that he was _that small_. He's just normal and the ginger guy was just too big. Jihoon had to lift his head to see the guy's head, with brown hair cut short enough to reveal the back of his neck and his ears.

So there was Jihoon. Following some stranger with a giant body, brown hair, and aroma of ginger.

That was until Jihoon bumped into someone and fell to the ground. By the time he got up, the ginger guy was gone.

Now Jihoon was left in an unknown street in a new town. Standing with all of his belongings in front of a curry restaurant, slightly shivering from the cold. As he let out a sigh, he made a mental note to himself to not space out and follow some stranger anymore. It was weird though. Jihoon was the type that thinks thoroughly before doing something, not one who acts on impulse.

Maybe it's because of that smell. The smell that makes him feel so comfortable. The smell of home.

Jihoon quickly kicked out the thought from his head. He had left home to come here, and he won't go back until he reaches his goals. He should get used to being faraway from his home until then. Getting all sentimental and nostalgic won't help.

With that in mind, Jihoon took his duffel bag and went back to the street. After a while he found another bus stop on the left side. There should be a map of the area. Jihoon decided to take a look and see if he can find his way. But before reaching the bus stop, he bumped into someone again.

This time Jihoon landed right on his butt. His hand were on his back as his body tried to protect himself from the fall. A bad move, since it might hurt his hands, a situation Jihoon would want to avoid at all cost. Thankfully, his large red backpack was there to provide soft landing and prevent his hands to hit the ground.

 _Not again_. Jihoon mocked himself for the third time today. Who gets bumped and fall to the ground twice in a day, really?

He was trying to get up, but his legs could barely handle the weight of his body plus his backpack, so he almost fall again. He didn't though, because there are hands on his waist, stopping him from falling back and helped him steady himself.

Jihoon looked in front of him and saw a pair of brown eyes. Above them were thick brows with neat edges. The nose has prominent bridge and match perfectly with his face. He has high cheekbones, which shows cute little plumps as his lips curved upward. In between his soft looking lips were almost perfectly lined teeth with prominent canines. Somehow his face reminded Jihoon of a giant puppy.

"Are you okay?"

Jihoon heard him, but he wasn't listening. His mind was preoccupied with what he saw and _smelled_.

He smelled home.

* * *

"Jihoon!"

The owner of the voice was at the other end of the hall, but you can hear him clearly. Jihoon knew that he didn't raise his voice on purpose. It was just his usual volume.

The guy who called his name was walking towards him, arms waving excitedly. Jihoon's lips lifted up as he got closer.

Suddenly Jihoon felt someone hugging him from behind. Lanky arms dangling from his shoulders to the front of his body, and a chin pressed against his head. Jihoon didn't bother to look behind and launched a jab with his elbow, earning a small groan.

"Jun-hyung, where's Wonwoo-hyung and Jeonghan-hyung?" The guy in front of Jihoon asked.

"They already secured us a table. Did you forget, Mingyu? Today Aunt Hani is having a special. We won't have anywhere to sit if we don't hurry." An answer came from behind Jihoon.

"Oh yeah! Awesome! Alrighty, let's go!"

Mingyu's cheer made people around them startled, but both Mingyu and Jun didn't seem to notice. They walked side by side, arms around each other's shoulders, their long legs swaying as they hop their way to the cafeteria.

Jihoon laughed silently as he followed them.

* * *

When they arrived at the cafeteria, it was already filled with hungry students. With 180-or-so centimeters, Mingyu and Junhui easily towers all the other students and made their way between the crowds. The smaller Jihoon didn't have that advantage so it took longer for him to reach their table.

Jeonghan and Wonwoo had already waited them at the table, stitting across each other. Mingyu took a spot next to Jeonghan. Jun sat next to Wonwoo and Jihoon next to him.

Jeonghan took turns to look at Mingyu and Jun and said in a playful tone, "You shouldn't have walked so fast and left poor Jihoon at the back. He could've drown in the crowd and get stepped on."

Jihoon glared at Jeonghan but it only made the long haired guy laugh.

"What? I was thinking of your safety. You could've got lost or squashed. Just like that time," said Jeonghan, still giggling.

Jihoon gritted his teeth while he kept shooting deadly glares to Jeonghan. He wondered how could someone who looks like an angel could act like a mischievous devil.

Jeonghan's looks is the perfect blend of masculine and feminim features. Delicate eyes and nose with strong face lines. Skinny neck with prominet adam's apple. Lanky body with broad shoulders. Plus that shiny skin and silky red hair running down below his shoulders. He's the eye candy (or _angel_ , as they like to call him) for many female and male students here.

Jihoon was sure that everyone is wrong about him. No angel took a picture of a stranger who fell down on the street, just because he thought that the said stranger looked funny on the ground with an oversized red backpack.

"Jihoon and Jeonghan-hyung take care of our spot. We're getting the food," said Mingyu.

Mingyu and Jun immediately went to get their lunch. Wonwoo was getting out of his seat when Jihoon stopped him.

"Can you get me some puddings?"

For a while Wonwoo squinted his already small eyes, posing as if he was deep in thought.

"I will if you call me hyung."

Jihoon rolled his eyes.

"Why not? You made Mingyu dropped the hyung even though you're older than him."

"Yeah, because we're on the same year here. Our real age difference doesn't matter."

"Exactly. I'm in my second year, which makes me your senior. Shouldn't you call me hyung even though we're the same age?"

"No. Never. Not a chance."

Wonwoo just shrugged and left, but when he got back with the two other boys, he had a pudding on his tray.

* * *

Their lunch was ready and everyone quickly digged into their trays, but then Jeonghan suddenly yelped.

"I forgot to tie my hair and I already tainted my hands with burger. Mingyu, tie me up, would you?"

Mingyu put down his chopsticks and reached for Jeonghan's jeans pocket, pulling out a black hairband.

"Why don't you just cut it?" said Jun while munching a paprika from his chicken and vegetable saute.

Jeonghan gave a "nah" and continued digging on his burger.

Jun turned to Jihoon. "You look like you need a haircut."

"What do you think, Wonwoo?"

"Hm? What?" Wonwoo looked slightly distracted and didn't catch Jun's question.

"Jihoon's hair."

"Oh yeah. He should cut it. His hairstyle looks like it's from the 90's or something."

Jihoon threw a glare towards Wonwoo and it earned some laugh from their table. Jihoon wondered why is he even friends with these people.

* * *

"You know what Jihoon? Maybe Jun-hyung is right?" said Mingyu as they walked the grounds of their campus.

"About that curry restaurant being a front of a mafia den? You know that's nonsense. He just watch too much movies."

"No, not that. About you getting a haircut."

Jihoon raised his eyebrows to Mingyu.

Mingyu quickly added, "I don't think your hair looks lame. It's just that it's getting kinda long and I kinda want to try and cut it... and maybe style it a bit?"

Jihoon just blinked. Mingyu is saying he wants to cut his hair?

"Fine. I'll go to the barber."

Mingyu couldn't hide the disappointment in his face. His emotions usually just shows in his face anyway.

Jihoon tried to ignore it, but the Mingyu started making those puppy eyes and Jihoon thought he was going to get crazy.

"Okay, fine. You can give me a cut."

With those words, Mingyu's face turned bright.

* * *

Jihoon stared at his mirror. Mouth slightly gaping. He couldn't believe what he saw.

It was himself at the mirror. But there's something foreign on the top of is head. Strands of bright pink.

Behind him, Mingyu was looking satisfied.

"Ooh, look at how the pink matches you!"

Jihoon's face made a twitch.

"So cute!"

Another twitch.

"Kim Mingyu..."

"Hm?" Mingyu finally noticed Jihoon's expression and made a sad face. "You don't like it?"

There was another twitch and a clang, followed immediately by a scream of pain.

* * *

"Are you still mad?" said Mingyu from the table.

Jihoon didn't answer. He just kept fiddling with the fry pan, stirring the rice inside. He was making some fried rice.

"But you said it was okay to color it..."

"You should've asked me first about the color before you do it!"

"I did! And you nodded!"

"I didn't nod! I was asleep!" hissed Jihoon.

Mingyu muttered a sorry and went silent. Jihoon sighed.

After the fried rice is ready, Jihoon brought it to the table. He passed a plate to Mingyu and gestured him to eat. Mingyu did it in silent, still with that sad face.

Jihoon sighed again.

"...It isn't _that_ bad..."

Mingyu's eyes lit up in a split second. Jihoon couldn't help but smile watching it. Mingyu smiled too, happy and wide, baring his canines.

For a while they enjoyed their meal while chatting about school and random stuffs. Mingyu finished his meal first and waited until Jihoon finished his. As he was concentrating to finish the last of his meals, Jihoon stopped talking. Mingyu waited while fiddling with his spoon.

After his plate was clean, Jihoon said, "What?"

Mingyu looked at Jihoon with hesitation, but opened his mouth anyway.

"I was thinking if you could help me with something..."

Jihoon waited for Mingyu to continue.

"Could you write me a melody?"

"Melody? For what?"

"It's a gift."

"Why not just buy something?"

"No! I want this to be special... I need to express my feelings, so I'm writing the lyrics. But I can't write the song..."

Mingyu's eyes were shining as he talked. Smile never left his face and there's a blush of red on his cheeks. He has never looked more beautiful, and yet Jihoon felt irritated. Like there's something tugging his chest. Persistently.

"...Is it for someone you like?" Jihoon thought his voice sounded somehow distorted, but maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him since Mingyu didn't seem to notice.

Mingyu answered by giving Jihoon his widest smile.

"Yeah."

Jihoon felt that tug turned into a sharp pain, slowly piercing his chest. The pain didn't go away for hours and even stayed until the next morning.


	2. Melody

Mingyu was staring at a book on the table. He had been digging into that book since he bought it last night, reading before he went to sleep, while he was having breakfast, in between classes, and now while he wait his friends for lunch. He was so absorbed that he didn't realize someone approched his table and took a seat across him, until the person yanked the book from him.

"Hey!"

" _Composing Music 101: The Definitive Guide to Becoming a Composer_...?"

The person, Lee Jihoon, raised his eyebrows until they almost touch his pink bangs.

Mingyu mumbled something about having no choice since Jihoon wouldn't help him. Jihoon looked like he was trying to say something, but didn't get the chance because Wonwoo and Jun approached from behind. After seeing the two boys, Mingyu quickly hid the book in his bag. Jihoon gave him a questioning look, but Mingyu ignored him.

The four boys exchanged greetings and quickly their table was filled with chat and laughter. Then Mingyu glanced at his watch.

"Where's Jeonghan-hyung?"

"He... might not sit with us today," said Jun in a supicious manner. Wonwoo replied "Nah, I doubt that" and then turned to Mingyu and Jihoon who didn't have the slightest clue.

"Choi is at it again." Wonwoo said it matter-of-factly.

Jihoon just gave an "oh" while Mingyu grimmaced.

"I think Jeonghan-hyung will go for Choi," Jun said, smiling confidently.

"From all the girls and guys who's after him? No. No way it's going to be Choi Seungcheol." Wonwoo said with a straight face.

Jun rolled his eyes. "Don't you know that Choi Seungcheol is pretty popular too? He's not my type but I get it. He's tall, got that half foreigner look, nice and cool attitude, good rep as member of the soccer team. Well yeah, he can be a bit embarrasing at times, but all in all he's pretty cute, don't you think?"

Wonwoo looked as if he has lost trust in the world. Mingyu and Jihoon couldn't help but laugh. Seeing Wonwoo doubting his judgement, Jun started his talk about the popularity rank in their university and what he thinks about the girls and guys that made the list. After getting into the fifth person, Jun suddenly stopped.

"Well, look who's finally here."

The rest of the group turned their faces to the direction where Jun was looking. They saw Jeonghan walking with a guy equally tall as him. The guy had black hair with straight bangs. He and Jeonghan was walking while having a chat. His eyes never left Jeonghan's face but Jeonghan didn't seem to notice. If Jeonghan did, he didn't show any discomfort whatsoever.

The guy, Seungcheol, stopped Jeonghan for a moment, gesturing to a table at the far corner of the cafeteria. Jeonghan smiled but shook his head, waving his untied red hair in the process. Seungcheol looked obviously disappointed, but smiled anyway as he waved goodbye. Jeonghan continued to walk until he arrived at their table.

"I thought you'll be having a lunch date with Choi," said Jun.

"No, because I'm not dating him."

Jun said "Yeah, sure" and gave a suspicious look, but Jeonghan just laugh. For a while they enjoyed their lunch and chat.

Then something catches Jihoon's attention. The others realized it and tried to see what distracted Jihoon. Upon seeing the target, Mingyu groans. Jun let out an "Oooh", eyes sparkling just like everytime he finds something that pique his interest. Wonwoo deadpanned while Jeonghan rolled his eyes to his friends' reactions.

A guy was walking towards them. His copper hair was divided on one side and combed up. He was tall and lean. His eyes has the look of confidence but didn't make him look much of a snob. Maybe it was thanks to his pink small lips with edges curving upwards, giving a friendly aura.

The guy arrived at the table and greeted them. Eyes focused on Jeonghan.

Everyone gave a short "Hey" and Jun let out a "Yo, Hong Jisoo!". Jisoo sat next to Jeonghan.

"I see you here more than I see our dean. And you don't even go to this university." Jun said.

Jisoo smiled. "My brother is thinking of going here so I'm taking a look at the place."

"Your brother won't be going to uni in two years. It's a bit too soon, don't you think?" Wonwoo said.

"It's better to be prepared as soon as possible."

Yeah whatever. Everyone knows what's his real reason is. Wonwoo, Jun, Jihoon glanced towards Jeonghan.

Jeonghan was not fazed by this and continued the chat. "So, you don't have any gigs or classes?"

"There's one later." Jisoo looked at Jeonghan's eyes while producing a ticket from his pocket.

"I was thinking if you'd like to come and watch."

Jihoon exchanged glances with Jun and Wonwoo, his fingers curled in an expression of distaste. Wonwoo looked like he wanted to throw up while Jun laughed without letting out any sound.

"We're going to hang out after class," said Mingyu.

Jun quickly added, "Nah, we hangout everyday. It's not like Jeonghan-hyung would miss anything."

Mingyu glared at Jun but Jun just shrugged.

Jeonghan looked at Jisoo and smiled. He touched Jisoo's hand which were holding the ticket and said, "I'm sorry. Maybe next time."

Jisoo, still smiling, said that it's okay and he will definitely prepare the ticket for the next gig. As soon as he left their table, Jun opened his mouth.

"I changed my mind. You should go after Jisoo. He's richer." Jun commented about Hong Jisoo the rising star. Jisoo rose to fame after he posted videos of him singing and playing guitar on the net. Now he's a part time student and part time heartthrob sensation.

Jeonghan just laughed. Meanwhile Mingyu look as if someone had just insulted him. "Jeonghan-hyung shouldn't go out with someone just because of money."

"Hyung can get it with a smile and a flap of his hair. Why not?"

"Hey! Don't talk as if Jeonghan-hyung is some slut!"

Wonwoo and Jihoon looked taken aback by Mingyu's reaction. Jun just shrugged.

Jeonghan said softly. "Mingyu. You know that Jun doesn't mean that. It's just the way he talks." Jeonghan glanced at Jun and said "Gives the conversation some sparks, eh?" Jun nodded in agreement, a smug on his face.

"Besides, I do like money," Jeonghan said playfully. Jun let out a "See!" with a I-told-you-so look.

"But you deserve the best!" Mingyu said. A look of disbelief on his face.

Jeonghan laughed and ruffled the younger's hair. "Aw, you sweet. I do, and I will get the best, okay? Just trust me."

Jeonghan smiled and it made Mingyu lift his lips a bit.

For a while they kept talking about who Jeonghan should date. Jun said, "At least Jisoo has the guts to ask Jeonghan-hyung out."

"More like no shame for flirting with Hyung wherever and whenever." Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

The table was filled with laugh, but there was one person who only let out a strained chuckle. It was Mingyu. He chuckled at the words, but his expression was dim. Sitting across him, Jihoon noticed his strange behavior.

Worried that Mingyu or anyone else might notice him staring at Mingyu, Jihoon averted his eyes. Then his gaze met with Wonwoo's. With that gaze, somehow Jihoon knew that they both noticed the same thing. But none of them said a word.

It was dark when Mingyu and Jihoon walked the streets. The five of them went to a bowling alley to hangout. Wonwoo had to work so they cut it short. Now Jihoon and Mingyu are walking home together since they go to the same direction. They chatted while they walked. Then suddenly Mingyu turned silent. Jihoon glanced to his left and saw a serious look on Mingyu's face.

"What?"

Mingyu turned to Jihoon. Nervousness and hesitation clouded his face.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows. "You can tell me."

After a few moment of hesitation, Mingyu said, "I was thinking about Jun-hyung's words..."

Jihoon waited. Even though he actually wanted to stop Mingyu and just tell him to shut up because Jihoon didn't think he'd like what the taller guy was going to say.

"Jun-hyung is right. Having the guts to ask someone out, to tell them about your feelings is an admirable thing."

Jihoon stayed silent, but Mingyu knew that he's listening. So he continued.

"So I can't give up. I'm finishing that song and I will give it as a present. To convey my feelings. And hopefully to make that person happy."

Sensing that Jihoon has stopped his steps, Mingyu stopped too. He looked at the shorter guy and saw him looking back.

"Why a song?"

"Because a song... Music is what that person holds dear."

Jihoon sighed. "Fine."

Mingyu blinked.

"How about tomorrow before the afternoon class? You can come to my place. Tonight's good too, but I don't want my neighbors banging my door for noise disturbance."

Mingyu was still blinking. Watching the younger guy like that made Jihoon gritted his teeth.

"Didn't you hear me? I'm helping you so tell me when you want to start."

With that Mingyu's face lit up and he brought his huge body over Jihoon, hugging him while showering him with a stream of "thank you".

Jihoon struggled to take Mingyu off him. "You're heavy! Get off!"

Mingyu did as he was told. Smile still plastered on his face. Then they continued to walk.

"Why are you keeping this from Wonwoo and Jun anyway?"

"There's no way I'm telling them. They'll mock me everyday for the rest of my life!"

Mingyu was humming. It was a melody that Jihoon played with his guitar earlier. Now Mingyu was trying to think of the words to fill it.

"As your beautiful long hair... No, no, no. I don't want him to think that I only look at his looks. I want to convey that I appreciate his personality, kindness—"

Mingyu stopped. He eyed Jihoon's back, looking for any signs that Jihoon heard what he just said. He didn't want to give any clues, but sometimes his mouth just slips. Jihoon's hands was still busy mixing stuffs into the glasses, so Mingyu thought that it was safe.

Mingyu hadn't told Jihoon about the person he likes. He was not ready yet. He thought Jihoon would find it silly. Mingyu knew that Jihoon wouldn't mock him as bad as Wonwoo and Jun, but still, Jihoon can be pretty harsh with his words even though he doesn't mean too.

A sound of spoon hitting the glasses and then Jihoon walked back to the table, two glasses in his hands. It was ginger drinks.

Mingyu smiled as he sipped the drink. "You really like ginger, huh?"

Jihoon gave a hum and kept drinking. After finishing half of the glass, Jihoon said, "That restaurant. You quit?"

"Yeah. I haven't find a new job, but I'll get to it. Anyway, from now on I won't be dealing with gingers and spices. I used to walk the streets smelling like Indian food or something. But not anymore!" Mingyu laughed.

Jihoon let out a chuckle, but his eyes weren't smiling.

Mingyu didn't know what made Jihoon look like that and it brought an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.


	3. Crossings

"No, no, no, no, no! Mingyu, get it, please!"

Jeonghan screamed in panic as strands of his hair escaped the knot on the back of his head, almost touching the wet paint below.

"I got it! I got it!"

Mingyu quickly scooped Jeonghan's hair and tried to get them together.

"Why do you guys have to be so loud." Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

They were in front of a bench, located in the corner of their campus ground. Mingyu, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo were bent over the bench, pointing the brushes in their hands towards a piece of white cloth. Jihoon, who had done his part of the job by drawing the sketch on the cloth, was standing behind them, eyes wandering to their sorroundings, face colored with guilt and embarrasment of having such loud friends.

Mingyu gently traced Jeonghan's hair with his fingers, gathering the red locks into one place and tying them up with a black hairband.

Wonwoo pouted at the scene. Isn't Mingyu taking too much time for tying some hair? And why is Jeonghan looking _so comfortable_ with Mingyu's fingers on him?

"Thank you, Mingyuuuu," said Jeonghan in his playful voice. Jeonghan used that voice with everyone yet Mingyu looked as if he's the luckiest guy in the world.

Jeonghan raised his left hand, the one not holding the brush, reaching towards Mingyu's face. Mingyu looked a bit surprised and happy at the same time. His eyes sparkled even brighter as Jeonghan's hand touched his right cheek.

"Thank youuu." Jeonghan said while pinching Minyu's cheek.

Mingyu grinned so wide that you might thought he'll rip his jaw. After a while, Jeonghan's hand started to shake. No, his whole body was shaking.

"D-don't you... pfft... realized that... m-my hand is covered paint?"

Jeonghan couldn't hold himself any longer and bursted into laughter. Mingyu's eyes were wide, looking at Jeonghan's yellow hand. He touched his own cheek and now his fingers are as yellow as Jeonghan's.

"Jeonghan-hyung!"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Mingyu pouted but his eyes didn't lose that spark.

"Come on, guys. We don't have all day. I gotta get to work."

"Sorry, Wonwoo..." Jeonghan gave Wonwoo his best puppy eyes. Wonwoo just squinted at Jeonghan but said no more. They got back to painting.

After a while they finally got a "OUR DANCING STAR JUN!" on a yellow star. Wonwoo and Mingyu were done at started cleaning, but Jeonghan was still busy adding some red hearts at the corners.

"You know, I still like 'SHAKE THOSE BOOTIES JUN!' better," said Jeonghan.

"I'm not waving that around." Jihoon deadpanned.

"No worries. I'll gladly shake my booties for you guys."

The four of them turned their heads and saw Jun. The brown-haired guy walked towards them and then stopped next to Jihoon, examining the work of his friends with arms on Jihoon's shoulders.

"What time can we enter the hall tomorrow?" asked Jihoon.

"Six. But I'm number ten so I might not be up until it's close to seven."

"Got your costumes back from the dry clean?"

"Yeah, Won Won." Wonwoo threw a brush and Jun dodged it by slightly bending his head.

"I'll pick you up at 5, okay?" Jeonghan chimed in.

"Nah, it's fine, Hyung."

"No! You're not taking the crowded subway. You'll crush your important legs!"

"Okay, _Mom_."

There's a rustle as Mingyu roamed his bag and produced a small thermos.

"My former boss said the herbs are good for your body. I'll make more tomorrow," said Mingyu as he handed the thermos to Jun.

"Thanks."

The five of them sat on the grass, making a circle in front of the bench and chatting while waiting the paint to dry. Wonwoo thought that even though he had felt somewhat uneasy, now he was laughing his heart out. He looked at his friends' faces, and he never felt so happy.

Wonwoo had gone to work, Mingyu went to do interview for a new job, and Jun went home to rest before tomorrow's dance competition. So now there were only Jeonghan and Jihoon walking side by side. The banner was folded neatly inside the carton bag in Jeonghan's hand.

"Jihoon."

Jihoon turned to his right.

"How about karaoke?"

" _...Is it for someone you like?" "Yeah."_

"Jihoon~ Why are you spacing out?"

Jihoon blinked and snapped out of his thoughts. Slowly he started to see what's in fron of him. Jeonghan looking at him curiously.

"Yeah, sorry. What?"

"Karaoke. Please?" Jeonghan loved karaoke, especially with Jihoon. The younger boy is good at harmonization and he also gave Jeonghan tips on how to improve his singing. Jeonghan hadn't go to the karaoke for two weeks and he needed some release.

Faced with Jeonghan's pleading gaze, Jihoon had to muster up some determination to open his mouth.

"Sorry, hyung... I have to go someplace now."

"Aw... okay..." Jeonghan pouted but quickly back to all smiles. "Where? Let me drive you."

Jihoon told him and Jeonghan jumped into the smaller boy as he squealed uncontrollably.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we're here. This is— Oh my— I just—Jihoon." Jeonghan stopped his steps and turned to face Jihoon. He put his hands on top of Jihoon's shoulders.

" _You are amazing_. You did it! This awesome! Jihoon!"

Jeonghan was obviously doing his best to control his excitement. He managed to keep his squealing in minimum volume.

Jihoon couldn't help but letting out a small smile seeing the older guy's excitement.

"He just said that he liked my demo and wanted to talk about it. We haven't made deals about anything."

"But don't you think that's awesome? You got him to listen to your songs, amongst hundreds or maybe thousands that people sent to him. And he said he likes it!"

Jeonghan pulled Jihoon into a quick hug (for the hundredth time today), and when he pulled away he said, "You're one step closer!"

Jihoon looked at the man in front of him. Most days Jihoon would get irritated by the man's mischievous smile and the pranks he loved to pull. Jihoon wasn't too fond of skinship either, so he found Jeonghan's clingy mode very annoying.

And Jihoon couldn't help but feeling hurt. Because Jeonghan is a constant reminder that there's something Jihoon will never get, no matter how much he longed for it.

Now looking at Jeonghan, Jihoon thought that he wasn't an angel after all. He's a devil for not allowing Jihoon to hate him.

Jihoon scoffed at his own thoughts. As his eyes met Jeonghan's, images from Jihoon's first few months in town until the present ran through his head. Most of them were filled with a huge puppy-like guy, an ever straight-faced guy, a guy with constant smirk in his face, and a stunningly beautiful guy. The image of each one of them of them brought a warm feeling in his chest.

Jihoon returned his focus to the man in front of him.

 _Including you._

Jihoon felt his face relaxed, and he said what felt like the most natural thing to say.

"Thank you."

Jeonghan looked a bit puzzled at Jihoon's words, but it didn't stay long. "I don't know why you're thanking me, but anyway, this is awesome. YOU ARE AWESOME!"

Jihoon chuckled and gestured to a turn on their right. The two of them made the turn and went through a quite long corridor. They had only been through half the way when a voice stopped them on their tracks.

"Jeonghan. Jihoon."

Both of them turned back to see Hong Jisoo, the usual smile on his face.

"Right. I forgot that this is your label."

"I didn't even know that!"

Jisoo let out a chuckle and replied, "You know, we should catch up. Coffee?" His eyes were directed to Jeonghan.

"Nah, I'm good. I can catch up all about Hong Jisoo from his fans."

"Well, how about a date, then?"

Jihoon rolled his eyes. How could this guy do it without cringing one bit? He even managed to push Jihoon into nonexistent.

Jeonghan smiled but shook his head. "I don't want people getting the wrong idea."

Jisoo's confident smile didn't falter even the slightest.

"Why not? And last time I checked you don't have anyone who'll get mad at you for going on a date."

"Well... no... but there _is_ a certain someone that I kinda like and I don't want that person to take us the wrong way."

"I see."

Jisoo looked at Jeonghan with smile still on his face. At a glance it seemed like nothing changed, but at a closer look you can see his gaze had changed from that of gentleness into a gaze filled with determination. Seeing that, Jihoon knew that Jisoo wouldn't back out. Silently he envied Jisoo. He who didn't even have the guts to try.

After Jihoon and Jeonghan part ways with Jisoo, they continued to trot the hall.

"He won't give up, you know."

Jeonghan nodded.

Jihoon sighed. "You should get yourself a real lover instead of sprouting desperate lies like that. Actually you could've just lied about having a lover."

"No. I don't want rumors spreading out about me having a lover. I don't want people getting the wrong idea..."

Jihoon raised his eyebrows.

"So it was true? There's someone you like."

Jeonghan nodded. A slight blush on his cheeks.

"He's the best thing that's ever happened in my life."

Jihoon felt his heart stopped for a bit. Somewhat out of panic, he blurted, "It's a he? So you're gay?". After the words left his mouth Jihoon regretted it. He didn't mean to be offensive but he tends to give that impression.

Even so Jeonghan didn't look the least offended and replied casually.

"I've had crushes over guys and girls so I think gender doesn't really matter for me."

Jihoon nodded.

"But..." Jeonghan continued, now somewhat hesitant. "This is the first time... I don't think I've ever felt like this my past crushes... I think... I think I'm in love."

Jihoon was surprised at the confession but not more than Jeonghan himself. It seemed like Jeonghan hadn't really sort out his thoughts about what he feels. Now the realization strucked him, and it made Jeonghan happy as much as it surprised him. So he smiled.

Jeonghan's smile made Jihoon push away his worries and said, "Then you should tell him."

Jeonghan looked startled for a while, but then he looked at Jihoon's eyes and in a while he was smiling again.

"Thank you. I will."

Jihoon smiled back and resolved to not regret for encouraging Jeonghan, even though his intuition was screaming that he _will_.

Jihoon turned his back, leaving Jeonghan to enter a room, and closed the door behind him.

 _I won't regret it_. Jihoon continued to replay those words and the image of Jeonghan's smile in his head.

Wonwoo sighed as he went back to their table along with Jihoon, drinks in their hands. Jeonghan and Mingyu hadn't stopped clinging to Jun, showering him with hugs and congratulations.

"Look at them. They're even happier than the winner himself," Jihoon said as he put the the drinks.

Wonwoo chuckled.

For a while they had fun drinking and chatting. Jeonghan didn't drink as he's the designated driver. The others didn't drink that much either. The got classes tomorrow and didn't want to show up with a hangover.

Jeonghan left a bit to go to the bathroom. On his way back he was stopped by a girl. Wonwoo and the others noticed.

As Jeonghan reached their table, Jun said, "Why back so fast? Have fun a bit."

Jeonghan just smiled and shook his head.

Mingyu, who had been fidgeting, looked a bit relaxed once Jeonghan had back to sit beside him.

"You haven't touch your drinks Mingyu," said Jeonghan.

"I was thinking that maybe I could drive today. You should have fun and drink."

"No, it's okay. Let the hyung take care of you kids, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Jeonghan pulled out his hand to ruffle Mingyu's hair. "Thanks."

Wonwoo noticed that Jeonghan's hand stayed longer than usual. Later he also saw how Jeonghan and Mingyu were sitting awfully close to each other. Jeonghan was the one who closed their gaps. At first Mingyu looked flustered and tensed, but gradually he loosened up and looked comfortable.

Wonwoo thought he was just imagining things as Jeonghan had always shown skinship with all of them. But he couldn't dismiss this feeling nagging his chest. His mind trailed back to somewhere in the past and cursed what he did at that time. If he hadn't done that he wouldn't feel so horrible right now.

Grunting, Wonwoo stood up from his seat and started to walk away from the table.

Jihoon called out, " Where are you going?"

"Getting more drinks!"

They were in Jeonghan's car. Wonwoo were sitting in the back of the car, between Jun and Jihoon. His back slumped against the seat, head slightly bent towards Jun. He thought he had the worst at the bar, but no. This is way worse. His head was throbbing with pain and he felt like throwing up but whatever he wanted to throw up was stuck, leaving a very uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

As he sat back in pain, he saw Mingyu and Jeonghan at the front. They were having a conversation. Mingyu kept glancing at Jeonghan with those puppy eyes. And Jeonghan, while keeping his eyes mainly on the road, was stealing glances to Mingyu.

Before Wonwoo could process what he saw, he felt a hand on his head, playing with his hair.

"What the hell, Jun."

"Your head is getting all so... hairy and fluffy."

Wonwoo somehow mustered up some strength to hit Jun's arms.

"Aw!"

"Kids, don't fight back there."

"But Mom, little Won Won is being mean."

Another slap and laughter from the front passenger seat.

Jihoon was sleeping the whole time. His face calm, undisturbed by whatever happened inside the car.


	4. Unravel

Jeonghan was sure that this is going to be a great day. How was it not? He's here at the cafeteria with Mingyu sitting next to him. They had been talking while looking at each other's eyes. At first Mingyu was shy and kept averting his gaze, but after a while he got comfortable enough to see Jeonghan in the eyes. Jeonghan liked the feeling of having Mingyu's eyes looking directly to his. Mingyu's eyes were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He could look at them for hours.

One more thing. Mingyu had asked him on a date after class. Well, he didn't say it was a date, but he did asked him to go for a dinner after days of flirting. It's definitely a date.

Yes, it's going to be a _fantastic_ day.

Anyway, back to Mingyu's gorgeous eyes, with that beautiful sparkle...

"Oh, wow, you're so busy eye-fucking each other that you don't even realize the existence of your friends. Anyway, you should get a room or something."

The voice made both of them turned their heads and saw Jun, Jihoon, and Wonwoo already sitting across them.

Jeonghan let out a sorry in a playful voice. He was not sorry at all, really.

On the other hand, Mingyu looked so flustered. It seemed he didn't know how to react. Poor kid. Why did Jun have to be so crude. Now Mingyu is all lost. Look at his mouth opening and closing like a fish, ears red, eyes darting everywhere, avoiding everyone, especially Jeonghan...

Oh wait, he looks _cute_. Not that he didn't look cute. It's just a different cute than the usual cute Mingyu.

 _I take it back. THANK YOU JUN_.

Jeonghan liked flustered Mingyu so much he decided to take it up a notch.

"You know, Jun's right. We should get a room."

There's a sound of someone spurting out drinks from his mouth, a sound of something getting hit, and continuous cough.

Meanwhile, Jeonghan was still looking at Mingyu who had become as red as tomato.

Jeonghan laughed and patted Mingyu's back. "I'm kidding, Mingyu. Sorry."

Mingyu mumbled a "Okay". He still couldn't look at Jeonghan properly.

Really, poor kid. But Jeonghan was definitely not sorry.

After that they had their lunch while chatting as usual. When it was time to finish and go back to class, Wonwoo said, "Let's go for bowling after class."

Before Jeonghan could reply to that, Jihoon said, "Nah. Maybe next time."

Wonwoo raised his eyebrows, "I thought you don't have part-time job today. Oh, are you working on a new song? Well, you can join us later on. The four of us go first."

"No, it's just..."

Jeonghan looked at Jihoon curiously. Did Jihoon know about his date with Mingyu? That's possible. Mingyu might have told Jihoon before asking him out. It made sense to Jeonghan. Mingyu had always been relying on Jihoon, being in the same year and all.

"Actually I already have a plan for today," said Jeonghan.

"Me too..." Mingyu said sheepishly.

Wonwoo looked at Jeonghan and Mingyu silently. After a while he said, "You could've just told me that you're having a date, you know."

Jeonghan grinned while Mingyu looked flustered once again.

"I-it's not a date. Right, hyung?" Mingyu looked at Jeonghan with a shy look.

"Right. It's not a date." Jeonghan's grin grew wider.

Wonwoo let out a "whatever" and dropped the case. He looked somewhat pissed and it made Jeonghan's grin falter. Now he felt bad. It must've been unbearable to see your friends flirting in front of you everyday (Jeonghan did admit that their fliriting is kinda gross), and now Jeonghan and Mingyu endeavor in love had cost the quality time of their group.

The five of them stood up from their seats and went to put their trays. On the way, Jihoon moved beside Jeonghan. Jeonghan couldn't see Jihoon's face as his head was down, but he could hear him said, "Don't worry about him. He's just having a bad mood."

Jeonghan squeezed Jihoon's shoulders and said thanks. He sure was lucky to have such great friends and determined to make it up to them.

Mingyu walked the stairs to his room, careful not to make unnecessary noises and disturb his neighbors. When he finally reached his door, he fumbled a bit with his pocket, searching for his keys. Then he entered, closed the door, and put on the locks.

Click.

With that sound, something inside of Mingyu _exploded_.

He quickly took off his shoes, almost throwing them in the shelf while somehow keeping them lining neatly. Then he dashed to his bedroom. When he arrived in front of his bed, he _jumped_ _up and down_. He actually wanted to jumped on his bed, but the poor thing wouldn't handle his weight and he couldn't afford to buy a new one.

He jumped up and down a few times, but it didn't feel enough. He wanted to scream, but he didn't want to disturb his neighbors. So he slowly climbed on his bed, grabbing his pillow and bringing it to his face.

And he screamed.

After a while, he was finally satisfied. Well, not really. He calmed down just enough, but he still needed to vent out all the _excitement_. He turned his body and laid on his back. His right hand reached to the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone. His fingers moved quickly on the screen.

" _To: Jihoon_

 _I DID IT_

 _I GAVE IT TO HIM_

 _I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE THINKS YET  
I COULDN'T I JUST CAN'T_

 _TOLD HIM TO BRING THE CD HOME_

 _BUT I THINK HE'S GOING TO LIKE IT_

 _I HOPE SO_

 _THANK YOU SO MUCH"_

He pressed the send button and put the phone on his side. For some while he just laid there, a grin wide on his face.

"Hey," said Mingyu.

"Hey," said Jeonghan.

Wonwoo didn't miss the long exchange of glances that followed after those "hey". Wonwoo wished he could've just ignore it, but he could never do that. This brought the uncomfortable yet familiar feeling to his chest. Burning slowly.

After averting his gaze from Mingyu, Jeonghan looked at his friends. Then he suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh, Jihoon, what happened to you!"

Mingyu followed and put his attention on Jihoon, "You're eyes are so red. Are you sick?"

"No, I just stayed up all night working on a new song," said Jihoon in a hoarse voice.

Jun quickly put his hand on Jihoon's forehead. "He's not feverish, but he might be if he continues staying up all night and doesn't do something about his sore throat."

Wonwoo took out a throat candy from the front pocket of his shoulder bag and handed it to Jihoon. "Now how are you supposed to finish your song. Aren't you supposed to give it to that producer this week?"

"I can still make it, I just have to find someone to sing it."

"Ooh, I volunteer! Me, me!" Jeonghan raised his hand excitedly.

Mingyu chuckled at Jeonghan. "I'd love to hear you sing Jihoon's songs. You're a great singer."

Jeonghan gave Mingyu a side glance and nudged him with his elbow. "You're not such a bad one yourself."

Mingyu turned red and grinned sheepishly.

"I know!" Jeonghan turned to Jihoon again. "We should make it a duet! Can you make it a duet song?"

Before Jihoon could reply, Mingyu cut with a "What? No!".

"Aw, come on. Why not?"

"I'll ruin Jihoon's song."

"No, you won't." Jeonghan winked.

Mingyu shook his head, face still unbelievably red.

"What are you guys doing." Wonwoo said slowly. His voice at his lowest.

Jeonghan and Mingyu turned to face him, and judging by the shocked look on their faces, Wonwoo's expression didn't look good.

"Come on. Your friend is like this and all the two of you do is flirt. Besides this is not a joke for Jihoon. He ditched home to do this. Can you be a bit more serious about it?"

Wonwoo could see Mingyu's eyes filled with guilt before the younger let his head bowed down. Jeonghan was no different, but there was some determination in his that kept his head upright, looking at Wonwoo with a mix of sorry and _kindness_.

Wonwoo loved that gentleness in Jeonghan's eyes, but not now. Now everything made him angry and it's so frustrating.

He turned to look at Jihoon. Jihoon's face was firm and his gaze exuded a silent anger.

He turned to Jun and saw nothing of Jun's usual smug or mischievous look. Instead he looked calm. So calm that Wonwoo wanted to scream at him, tell him to rub off that look.

Wonwoo looked at his friends' faces once more and the usual feeling of happiness had changed into something unfamiliar. Wonwoo couldn't put a name to it, but he had never felt worse.

Deep down a voice whispered to him the reason behind this ugly feeling and what he had to do to make things right. But instead he stood up and walk away, not saying a word.

Jeonghan was chatting with Mingyu when he saw Jihoon walking towards their table. Jeonghan waved and throwing the younger a smile. Jihoon gave a little smile back and sat down across him.

"You guys haven't got anything yet? Come on."

"Let's wait for Jun and Wonwoo."

Jihoon's face turned hard. "Jun is coming in a sec, I think. I don't know about Wonwoo. Let's just order first."

Jeonghan couldn't stop his smile from faltering. He thought that Wonwoo might still be mad about yesterday. He had texted him and tried to call him a few times, but it seemed like Wonwoo wanted some time alone, so Jeonghan let him be. Even today Jeonghan had to restrain himself from dropping by to Wonwoo's classes.

"Look, Jihoon... I—"

"Don't. You did nothing wrong."

Jeonghan shook his head but said nothing.

"Anyway, have you seen this..." Jihoon hold out a piece of paper towards Jeonghan and Mingyu. For a while they had a chat, until Jun came from behind Jihoon, his usual grin on his face. When he reached their table, he put his elbows right on top Jihoon's shoulders, his chin on Jihoon's head. He slumped backward when Jihoon elbowed him.

Jeonghan said, "Hey. Where's Wonwoo? Didn't you have class together today?"

"Yeah. He's not feeling good so he's laying down a bit before the next class," Jun said nonchalantly.

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine after laying down. Anyway, I'm going to back to check up on him. You guys just go and have your lunch, okay." With that Jun turned his back and walked out of the cafeteria.

Jeonghan wanted to say something but he stopped himself. He's mind was filled with worry but he knew that he would make things worse by acting on it. So he stayed.

He sensed Mingyu tensing beside him so he put his hands over Mingyu's, caressing it with his tumb under the table. Slowy he felt Mingyu's hand relaxed.

"I hope Wonwoo is okay. We should drop by to the supermarket today. Get some fresh fruits. You know that boy's diet. He really needs to eat more nutritious food." Jeonghan said in a cheerful tone. He secretly hoped that he sounded cheerful.

Mingyu, now looking a bit relaxed, said, "Yeah!". Then he and Jihoon had a debate over what they should buy. Jeonghan looked at them and felt his lips curving up.

It was a week after when Jihoon finally saw Wonwoo. Jihoon was entering a classroom while Wonwoo was on his way out. Behind Wonwoo was Jun, still busy cleaning up the mess on his table and putting them inside his bag.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows. "Didn't know you have classes here."

"It's substition class. The usual classroom is used on this time so we moved here," Wonwoo answered in his usual lazy voice.

Jihoon nodded.

"Lunch after this?"

Jihoon could see Wonwoo tensed. The taller boy's eyes flickered a bit before he shook his head and continued walking towards the door. But his steps were stopped as Jihoon grabbed his arm.

Jihoon looked up to Wonwoo and said, "You know you were wrong. You have to say sorry to them."

Wonwoo didn't look back. Eyes still on the door, he said, "What are you talking about."

Jihoon gritted. "You were jealous and you vented it out, in a bad way."

Seeing Wonwoo stayed silent, Jihoon continued, "If you love him, shouldn't you apologize?"

With that, Wonwoo snapped his head and turned to face Jihoon. "What do you know about loving someone?"

"I know that it's not hurting the one you love."

Wonwoo blinked several times before he averted his gaze, pulling out his arm from Jihoon's grab and walked out of the room.

Jihoon stared at Wonwoo's back until it was out of sight. Then he felt someone's presence next to him.

"I won't be joining you guys at lunch for a while too. I'm babysitting him."

Jihoon turned to look at Jun. "Yeah, I get it. Take care of him." Jihoon sighed. "He needs to cool down and stop acting like a kid."

Jun turned to look back at Jihoon. A smile on his face, but it was not the usual smug of playful smile. It was a gentle smile and it brought calmness to Jihoon's heart. The words that came out of Jun's mouth had the same effect, albeit along with the feeling like having a gentle slap to his face.

"Don't be so harsh on him. He's just a kid, and you know how hard it is to love someone who doesn't love you back."

Jun, still smiling, turned his gaze towards the door and walked away.


	5. Warmth

Wonwoo sat down at the counter with his head on the table. His eyes were fixed on the crowd filling the other side of the room, but actually he could barely recognize any of the faces and movements. There's this persistent throb on his head which made his vision all fuzzy.

It was all blurs of colors and shapes, dancing in front of his eyes.

For a while Wonwoo just stayed there, his left cheek felt cold against the table, while the rest of his face was hot.

At some point Wonwoo's eyes began to follow a certain movement. The once blurry image gradually turned clear as Wonwoo focus on it. It was two hands holding. The two hands moved slowly across the room.

As the image of the hands grew clearer, Wonwoo felt a sensation in his right hand. The touch of someone else's hand over his, the warmth that enveloped his hand.

Mingyu was not here in the room with him. But that sensation was his.

Wonwoo's mind left the room, floating to that cold day. It was early autumn yet the cold was creeping all over his body. The only part that's warm was his right hand. His right hand inside Mingyu's grip.

They were walking the street, shoulders touching, hand in hand. When they did that Wonwoo felt this uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, but strangely, he didn't hate it. Not at all.

But the moments never last long. At least not long enough for Wonwoo.

 _Ha, ha, ha! Did you see her face? She looked like she was going to squeal anytime!"_

Mingyu said that when they arrived in front of the curry restaurant, where they go their separate ways. Mingyu to the curry restaurant, Wonwoo to the Chinese food at the next block.

It was all a joke for Mingyu. The taller guy always enjoyed the look on that stalker girl's face, even suggested various scenarios to further satisfy that girl's imagination. Imagination of Wonwoo and Mingyu as a romantic couple.

He even said that they could make business with this thing.

 _"In Japan there's this so-called 'boys-love cafe'. Girls get in, order food, and enjoy shows of boys feeding each other, holding hands, all the lovey-dovey stuffs. I heard they make quite some money. I think many girls in here would love that kind of cafe too. Maybe we should make one!"_

Wonwoo wanted to smack that adorable smile from his face when he said that.

What was a joke for Mingyu turned out to be something more for Wonwoo. It was his entrance to realization, of Mingyu's endearing smile and little gestures of kindness. It made Wonwoo conscious of Mingyu's presence and every change in his voice.

It made Wonwoo emfelt something/em. But he was the only one who did, and it made him angry.

Slowly he felt the cold back on his cheek, and he was back at the bar counter. He blinked a few times, during which the heat in his chest grew bigger. Grunting, he pushed himself up and turned to the bartender.

"One more."

Before the bartender could reply, someone on his left said, "No, he's not having another glass. Sorry."

Wonwoo turned his head to glare at the owner of the voice. It was Jun, unfazed by Wonwoo's drunken glare. Jun just shrugged and moved towards Wonwoo. He wrapped Wonwoo's left arm on his shoulder and dragged him towards the door. Wonwoo wanted to protest that he could walk by himself just fine, but once he's up from the chair, he felt his legs all wobbly.

They walked slowly. They could've gone faster if Jun could gave Wonwoo a piggyback ride. He could actually, he's strong enough (or maybe Wonwoo is thin enough), but Jun learned from experience that Wonwoo didn't like it. Jun didn't want to risk getting brutally abused by angry drunken Wonwoo.

They were walking for a good 15 minutes when Wonwoo suddenly went still, forcing Jun to stop his steps.

Jun looked at Wonwoo, trying to find anything wrong. He started to fumble his pockets for any plastic bags, or anything that would do the job if Wonwoo's stomach decide it's the right time to throw up. But Wonwoo pulled his left hand on Jun's shoulder, bringing the two of them closer.

Wonwoo's eyes were directed towards Jun. But they didn't seem to be looking at Jun at all.

"I hate you." He said, almost like a grunt, before pushing his face towards Jun's, bringing their lips together in such force that he almost smashed them. Wonwoo stayed like that for a moment, waiting. He felt no reaction on his lips. Instead he felt hands on his shoulders, pulling him apart from Jun.

Jun said nothing and just pulled Wonwoo's arm, trying to get it over his shoulders once again. But Wonwoo pulled back.

"Why? Didn't you say I was hot when we first met? Was that a lie? Am I such an unworthy, hideous, pathetic..."

Wonwoo couldn't see Jun's face as he felt something hot and wet on his eyes, clouding his vision. But he heard him said softly, "You're drunk."

It's the sweetest voice of Jun that Wonwoo ever heard of, but it did nothing to soothe the waves of emotions in Wonwoo's chest.

* * *

The door opened in front of Jun, revealing a skinny boy in a long-sleeved green T-shirt, a size too big for his body, and a plain blue training. His hair was jet black with bangs covering his forehead. He had a wide nose and bags under his small yet piercing eyes.

The boy said nothing while he let Jun in, Wonwoo on his back. He went inside first as Jun was pulling of Wonwoo's shoes and kicking of his. When Jun got through the entrance and went to his room, the door was already opened.

After putting Wonwoo on the bed, Jun went to the kitchen slash dining room. The boy sat in front of the dining table. Judging by the pile of books and notes on the table, the stains of brown circles around the pile, and the smell of coffee, the boy had been in the room for quite some time.

The boy was bent down over a book, but looked up when Jun came in.

"I'm going to the convenience store for a bit. Can you call me if anything happens?"

The boy nodded.

"Thanks, Minghao."

The boy opened his mouth and said with a flat tone. "Sure. I'm your cousin who's freeloading at your place. It's my job to nurse your drunken boyfriend."

Jun waved his hand as he turned his back.

"Go easy on the caffeine. Just drink water okay."

* * *

Jihoon was sitting by the window, sipping coffee from a paper cup, when someone slided to a seat next to him.

"Coffee? God, someday you and Minghao will have overdose on that thing."

Jihoon turned to glare at the person. He wouldn't do it if it was a stranger, but Jihoon knew the owner of that snarky voice was none other than Jun, so he didn't hold back.

Jun sat next to him and put his plastic bag on the table. Jihoon saw the label of a hangover medicine in it. Jun smelled of alcohol, but he looked sober enough so Jihoon was guessing that the medicine was not for him.

Once again Jihoon faced his cup. But he didn't drink from it. He just stared at it and played it in his hand for a while. Then he turned back to Jun.

"Tough day?"

"Yeah," said Jun with his usual carefree tone. "But I'll get through it."

Jihoon nodded.

Moments later Jun stood up and left the store first. Before heading out, he flashed a smile to Jihoon. Jihoon thought that his smile looked tired, but it was still Jun's. Even though depraved of his usual smug and mischievous aura, it was still as warm as it's always been.


	6. Smile

Jihoon rarely gets visitors so he didn't expect his doorbell to ring at 9 AM Sunday. He was still in his pajamas, lavender with dark blue polkadot, when he went to the door to greet the unexpected guest.

He opened the door to find Mingyu, dressed in white shirt and grey cardigan.

Jihoon blinked his still sleepy eyes. "...what?"

Mingyu gave Jihoon his best grin and replied, "Let's go! There's a festival at the park by the river!"

"Uh..."

Mingyu waited, his large grin still plastered on his face.

"...Fine." Jihoon sighed. He didn't plan on going out today, but it's not such a bad idea to get some sunshine and fresh air. Plus, he couldn't say no to _that face_.

Jihoon gestured Mingyu to come in and let him wait on the dining table while he changed his clothes.

"Why don't you just go with Jeonghan-hyung?" Jihoon silently cursed himself for suggesting that. He might lost another chance to spend time with Mingyu.

There's this innocent look of wonder in Mingyu's face. It was like he was just asked the most obvious question in the world.

"I just want to hang out with you."

Jihoon felt himself smiling a little. "Oh, okay."

"Anyway..." A blush of red crept into Mingyu's face. "It's not like I want to be with Jeonghan-hyung _all the time_."

Jihoon was amused by Mingyu's blushing face. Smirking, he said, "Yeah, right."

Mingyu pouted and Jihoon thought he might get addicted to teasing Mingyu.

Still somewhat red, Mingyu said, "Besides, Jeonghan-hyung is probably sleeping or watching TV from his couch right now. He's too lethargic. Going to the festival with him won't be fun."

Jihoon laughed. He couldn't agree more.

When they arrived, the park was already filled with people. Parents and their little children, groups of teenagers, some couples, and basically everyone in their neighborhood.

Jihoon and Mingyu went around the stalls. They have everything here; food, accessories, clothings, game stands. Every stalls had its own line of people, waiting for the food until they're ready to be served, or busy choosing what to buy.

They have went pass the whole eastern side of the venue when Mingyu said, "Look! Isn't that the rice cake shop that used to be next to Wonwoo-hyung's workplace?" He pointed to a stall across them.

Jihoon squinted to where Mingyu was pointing. "Yeah, I think it is."

He turned to face Mingyu and saw Mingyu just turned his head towards him. As soon as they saw each other's faces, they had their legs moving towards the rice cake stall.

* * *

"This is it." Jihoon said, voice muffled with a mouthful of rice cake.

Mingyu nodded in agreement. His eyes teary from happiness.

After that they went silent, busy munching the rice cakes. They made sure that they didn't left anything behind, licking even the last drop of sauce. After the deed is done, they had their hands on their backs to support their bodies, letting their stomach to rest for a moment.

"I never thought we'll be able to eat it again..." Mingyu said in a solemn tone.

"Me neither..."

"Wow..."

"Wow..."

For a while stayed like that. Too full to even say anything. Jihoon didn't find it awkward though. It was a comfortable silence. He glanced at Mingyu who was sitting on his right and saw his eyes slightly closed, mouth slightly open with its edges lifted up. He looked relaxed and happy.

Jihoon turned turned his head from Mingyu and laid his eyes on the crowd. He could feel the warmth of sunshine on his skin, his stomach full and satisfied, and also Mingyu's presence on his side.

Warmth filled his chest, and he smiled. He was happy.

Jihoon thought the peaceful moment would last for the rest of day, but he was proven wrong when someone grabbed the sides of his arms.

"I finally found you... My fairy!"

Jihoon blinked and saw a pair of small eyes under some bright strands of blonde. Really, the person was so close from Jihoon that those are the only things Jihoon could see.

Jihoon blinked again. Nothing changed.

There's another "My fairy!", followed by a kick and a scream of pain.

* * *

Jihoon stared at Mingyu. No, that's an understatement. Jihoon glared at Mingyu with such look that made Mingyu sweat profusely and didn't dare to look back.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

A guy with pointed nose shook Jihoon's and Mingyu's hand repeatedly. His smile wide, showing off his gums.

It was minutes after a guy with blonde hair and small eyes approached Jihoon and asked him to be a replacement actor for the drama his community was going to perform. That guy was now sitting on a chair, getting his left leg rubbed with some scented oil by a younger boy. The boy was kneeling. He had a wavy brown hair and thick brows. The features of his face looked like that of a Western.

After getting his leg rubbed, the blonde guy stood up and approached Jihoon. This time he put some distance between them.

"You look perfect!" He said with a smile.

Jihoon turned his glare from Mingyu to the blonde guy, but it did no effect to his smile.

"Soonyoung, for you to find such perfect person, this is a sign we will do well on our play!"

"Seokmin! It won't be just _well_. We'll rock the house!"

They did some kind of elaborate celebratory dance, grinning from ear to ear.

"Ugh, why do you guys have to be _so dramatic_." A boy with red hair and plump cheeks said while looking at the two guys with a judging look.

The wavy haired boy said, "Uh... If they're dramatic than what does that make you, Seungkwan?". He got his arm hit as a response.

Jihoon averted his eyes from the mess in front of him and back to Mingyu. The taller guy was fidgeting, guilty look on his face.

He better feel guilty because this was his fault. Well, not entirely. But Mingyu was the one who gave Jihoon no chance to decline Soonyoung and Seokmin by saying "It sounds fun?".

 _FUN? I'm going up on stage in a few minutes, wearing bright pink pajamas and flower crown on my head!_

Anger bubbling inside Jihoon as he threw deadly glares towards Mingyu.

Sometimes Jihoon wonders why he fell for such a fool like Kim Mingyu. This was one of those times.

 _I guess I'm the fool._

And with that, Jihoon sighed. He suddenly felt too tired to be angry anymore.

As Jihoon started to calm down, someone entered the backstage. Jihoon recognized that skinny boy with black hair and piercing eyes.

"Minghao?"

"Jihoon-hyung, Mingyu-hyung." Minghao greeted them. He didn't smile and his tone was void from any emotion, but Jihoon was used to it.

"Thanks for helping." Minghao might not be expressive but Jihoon knew he's sincere.

Minghao turned to the rest of the gang.

"Soonyoung-hyung, Seokmin-hyung, stop fooling around. Hansol, get Seungkwan ready. Chan, Mina, stop flirting, you guys can continue after the show."

* * *

Jihoon froze. He could feel Chan and Mina staring at him. Hell, he could feel the gaze from the audience and it brought him to sweat.

Jihoon didn't have many scenes. He was supposed to cast some magic to Prince Chan and Princess Mina and then leave the stage.

But of course, he had to trip on his feet. Now he's on the floor, hands supporting his body from the fall.

He could've just get up and act like nothing happened, but somehow Jihoon couldn't move.

"O Mighty Pink Fairy! The power is too big that it got you on your knees! We need to do the ritual to channel it properly!"

Jihoon looked at Mingyu. Looking at Mingyu's twitch on his lips, knitted eyebrows, he could see that Mingyu was as nervous as him. But there he was, sprouting adlibs even though he's supposed to not have any lines, doing the best he could to save the situation.

Still on the floor, Jihoon made a serious face and copied Seungkwan's hand twirling a few scenes before.

"Yes! It is time!"

Jihoon just blurted it out without any plan, but somehow he felt that Mingyu would do something.

He was right. He felt his body lifted up, and now he's settled on Mingyu's shoulders. It was a bit scary at first, but Jihoon could feel Mingyu's hands on his sides, making sure he won't fall.

Chan and Mina followed their adlib, making expressions of awe at their human tower. Jihoon swung his wand towards them, squishing out memories of seeing Seungkwan's elaborate hand movements and somehow incorporating them into this "ritual".

Finally Prince Chan and Princess Mina received the magic. They're ready to fight Evil King Seokmin, while Jihoon and Mingyu were free to go off the stage.

* * *

Jihoon and Mingyu was standing beside the stage, looking aimlessly at the crowd when they felt hands on their shoulders.

They turned and their heads to see Jun's smirk.

"Hey, O Mighty Pink Fairy and his giant reindeer."

Jihoon quickly swung his hand towards Jun but today Jun was quick enough to dodge.

Jun should've just drop it after Jihoon's failed attempt, but of course, he had to stir things up further by saying, "The video will forever be my treasure."

"YOU HAD IT ON VIDEO?"

Jihoon was glaring at Jun while Mingyu was making his best puppy face.

"Hyung, please delete it. I can't have more people watching that."

Jun just shrugged and said, "Where's Minghao?"

Jihoon let him go for now, but he made a mental note that he's not done yet.

"He's taking care of the props. Anyway, I didn't know that Minghao was into theater."

"Well, he's not exactly the actor type, but they let him do dance and stunts in here and Minghao enjoys it. Besides, they need Minghao to take care of things. They can't depend on Soonyoung. He's more of a mascott than a leader."

Jihoon and Mingyu grimmaced at the mention of Soonyoung. Jun noticed the change in their faces and laughed.

Just then Minghao showed up and approached them. "Thank you Jihoon-hyung, Mingyu-hyung." Jihoon and Mingyu smiled as a reply. Mingyu patted Minghao's shoulder.

"Invite us when you're performing again, will you? We'll come, as audiences, of course. It's kind of refreshing to see you not bending over some book," said Mingyu. Minghao nodded.

"If Jun-hyung didn't bring him to our community, he'll be nose deep in books for the rest of his life," said the wavy haired Hansol who just came. Minghao gave Hansol a look but said nothing.

Hansol turned to Jihoon and Mingyu. "You should join us. As performers. We practice in the neighborhood."

Jihoon and Mingyu's face stiffened as they turned down the smiling boy's offer politely.

"Oh well. We'll be around when you change your mind. Oh, is that... Hyung!"

Something got Hansol's attention and he excused himself. He walked towards a tall guy, a familiar figure for Jihoon and Mingyu.

"Choi Seungcheol?"

"Yeah, Hansol is his brother." Jun explained.

Mingyu didn't say anything as he eyed Seungcheol. But then he recognized something else and let out a gasp.

"What?"

"Hong Jisoo."

Not far behind Seungcheol and Hansol was the one and only Hong Jisoo. They saw him approaching Chan and having a chat.

"They're brothers too."

"But Hansol and Chan are such nice kids... Why are they related to... _them_?" Mingyu frowned. Jihoon and Jun exchanged glances and just laughed.

After that they heard a "My fairy! You are my saviour!" from behind them. They turned to face the owner of the voice who was making a dash towards Jihoon. Jihoon put out his leg and kicked the approaching figure. For a while the air was filled with sobs of pain and roar of laughter.

* * *

"What a day..." Jihoon said with a sigh as they he and Mingyu walked along the river.

"But it was fun, right?"

He turned to look at a smiling Mingyu. Jihoon squinted for a while but then he broke into a smile as well.

"Well, it is kinda fun."

For a while they just walked side by side in silence. Enjoying the afternoon breeze and each other's company. Then Mingyu's phone rang. He took out his phone from his pocket and typed something. Jihoon thought he knew who Mingyu was texting to.

After putting his phone back to his pocket, Mingyu turned to Jihoon with a grin. "I was telling Jeonghan-hyung all the fun he missed."

Jihoon tried to grin back, but only managed a small smile. "He'll be missing a lot of fun if we don't get his lazy ass up from the couch. We should drag him next time."

Mingyu agreed and let out a laugh.

"He should be lucky to have us. Well, lucky to have you, actually. You're the best friend ever. I'm lucky to have you too."

Jihoon let out a chuckle as a reply. He wanted to say thanks, but he couldn't. Somehow he didn't feel entirely happy that one of his closest friends just aknowledged him as his "best friend ever". The words brought more pain than warmth to his chest.

Jihoon silently laughed at himself. He thought he had it all sorted out and under control. He thought of Wonwoo's look of pain the last time they met. He also thought of Jun when they met at a convenience store a few days ago, wondering whether Jun thinks it's all worth it. Wondering if Jihoon himself thinks it's all worth it.

But Jihoon had decided the answer a long time ago. He thought when he glanced at Mingyu.

Mingyu turned his head and their eyes met. Jihoon smiled at him, this time the edge of his lips were fully relaxed. Mingyu smiled back.

That smile. When his resolve starts to crumble, he just need to look at that smile and remind himself again.

Jihoon turned his gaze forward, smile on his face, heart at peace. It was a beautiful afternoon and he was thinking how good the wind felt on his skin when he felt his body lifted up.

"What are you doing?"

Mingyu lifted Jihoon's body up. Unlike what he did on the stage, this time he didn't lift Jihoon up to his shoulders, and settled him into a piggyback ride.

"Hey!" Jihoon pounded at Mingyu's back, but the giant wouldn't put him down.

"We're riding the wind, Jihoon!" he screamed as he made a dash.

It did feel like riding the wind up here on Mingyu's back. And it felt good. So Jihoon started to relax again, putting his arms on Mingyu's head, laughing his heart out.

* * *

"Looks like you had fun! Where are my souveniiiirs."

Mingyu smiled at the voice from across the phone.

"I got you one, okay. Don't worry. Anyway, have you moved from the couch at all today?"

"Nope."

Mingyu sighed. He couldn't believe how someone could just lay and do nothing for a whole day.

"Well, have you at least got something to bite?"

"Not yet."

Mingyu groaned.

"Relax, I'll get something to eat later."

"Later? You mean tomorrow?"

The voice only let out a laugh. Mingyu sighed again.

"I'm coming over. Stay put. Well, you're not moving from your couch anytime soon, but anyway, just be there."

Jeonghan stood at Mingyu's side, looking at the boiling pot. He saw how everything disappeared into it; small blocks of meat, carrots cut in neat half circle, thick colored liquid with a sweet smell, and many more.

"There. We just have to wait for a few minutes," said Mingyu while looking at the pot with a satisfied look.

"Whooaa." Jeonghan clapped his hands.

Mingyu turned to look at him, squinting his eyes.

"This is easy stuff. You can make it yourself. I'll give you the recipe."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Come on, you need to work on your diet and start eating healthy foods. You won't have any energy if all you eat are those junk in your fridge."

"I eat takeouts too."

"Many takeouts are not good if you eat them too much."

"But I have to wash and cut all the meat and vegetables to cook them. That's too much work."

Mingyu groaned.

"Is there really nothing that I can do to make you start cooking?"

"Nope."

"Hmm... Let's see... I can, you know, not give you that CD..."

"No! You know how I've looked for it at every music store. If you won't give it to me then where am I supposed to get it?"

Mingyu just smirked in reply.

Jeonghan pouted. He had to think of a way so that Mingyu will still give him the CD without getting him to cook. He was almost lost in his thoughts when he realized something.

The glee in Mingyu's eyes was gone, and his smirk had faltered. Seeing the change in Mingyu, Jeonghan did what felt like the most natural thing to do. He leaned forward and he saw Mingyu did the same. His eyes never left Jeonghan's, sending a warm feeling to his chest. Jeonghan felt the warmth spread to all over his body when their lips met. It was only a light touch, a peck. But nothing ever felt so right.

They separated for a moment after the first touch and were about to lean in for another kiss when Jeonghan's stomach made a loud noise.

"Continue next time? I'm starving."

Mingyu laughed, blush of red on his cheeks, and turned back to the boiling pot. From his side Jeonghan watched Mingyu stirring the pot, smile on his face. Jeonghan thought he could do anything for that smile and felt his own lips lifted up.


	7. Break

"Remind me again why I'm here?"

Jihoon turned to Jeonghan with a wary look on his face.

Jeonghan chuckled, along with Mingyu who sat beside him.

"You need the time off anyway." said Jeonghan.

"I guess you're right. And there's live music."

"Exactly."

Jeonghan smiled and Jihoon felt his own lips lifting up too.

The last few weeks had been quite tiring for Jihoon. Balancing school, part time job, and his music career was not an easy feat.

When Soonyoung and Seokmin invited them to their stand up comedy show, Jihoon wanted to decline, but didn't have the energy to do so. It took so much energy and a very long time for Jihoon until Soonyoung gave up on recruiting him to his theater group. Yeah, it must be fatigue that made Jihoon said yes at coming to this club.

Jihoon glanced at the surrounding people, all in groups, chatting with drinks in their hands. Jihoon looked at Jeonghan and Mingyu too. It's been a while since I hang out with Jeonghan and Mingyu (except for lunch) anyway, Jihoon thought.

 _Yeah, this should be fun._

"Okay." Jihoon suddenly said, making Jeonghan and Mingyu turned their heads.

"I'm up for some drinks. Who else?"

Jeonghan grinned. "Yeaah, that's the spirit. Oh, wait, I'll get 'em for you guys." He stood up and went towards the counter.

"This place is nice. And I'm looking forward to SoonSeok!" Mingyu beaming like a kid.

Jihoon grunted.

"They are funny. Right?"

"Yes, but obnoxiously loud too."

Mingyu laughed.

"Wait, what's that?" Jihoon pointed at Mingyu's bag.

"Oh." Mingyu held up the key chain hanging from his bag's zipper. It was a face with huge grin and two lines pointing upward to form the eyes. "Soonyoung gave me this when he and his high school friends came to my workplace. He said he found them at Namdaemun Market. He bought a lot of it and gave it out to everyone he knows. When I asked him why, he looked puzzled for a second and then smiled again, saying that he just felt like buying them. Doesn't explain why he bought a whole box of them though."

Jihoon sighed.

"What?"

Jihoon didn't answer Mingyu's question immediately. He just rummaged through his own bag and let out the same key chain from the inside pocket of his bag.

"Seokmin gave me this. He said he found them at an accessory shop near his house and bought a lot of them because the sales lady was cute."

Jihoon and Mingyu looked at each other. Jihoon rolled his eyes while Mingyu had a glee look on his face.

"Hey, they didn't give me those." Jeonghan was back with drinks in his hands. His eyes were at the keychain on Jihoon's hand while he put the drinks on the table. His lips pouting.

"Have mine." Jihoon put the keychain on the table at Jeonghan's side.

"I'll just ask them later. Don't you want this? It's cute. Looks like Soonyoung and Seokmin morphed together. Get it? The mouth and the eyes?"

"Exactly. Just keep it for me, hyung."

Jeonghan shrugged and took the keychain. He put to his bag zipper and brought it close to Mingyu's. Jihoon smiled while he and Mingyu admired their new "couple accessory".

"Oh!" Mingyu suddenly turned away his attention from the key chains.

Jeonghan and Jihoon looked at the direction Mingyu was looking and saw Soonyoung and Seokmin walking towards the space at the back of the club. Seokmin was grinning ear to ear and Soonyoung looked like he was laughing without a voice.

When they reached the mic at the center of the space, they greet the audience with their brightest smiles.

"Hi! It's Soonyoung..."

"Seokmin..."

"And we're SoonSeok!"

* * *

Soonyoung turned his lips downside and rolled his eyes, earning laugh from their table.

"S-stop it. You're not on stage anymore." Mingyu said with a hand holding his stomach. Soonyoung just grinned.

"Oh! The live music is starting!" said Jeonghan. So Soonyoung and Seokmin stopped fooling around and all five of them turned their attention to the stage. The first performer was a female singer.

As soon as the music starts, Jeonghan's attention never left the performer. That went the same for the next performer too, a saxophone player in his 30s.

Jeonghan's face was glowing and Mingyu loved it. Which is why Mingyu looked at Jeonghan through the entire show. Not creepy at all. Well, maybe a little, but Jeonghan's his boyfriend so why not.

Another performer got on the stage and introduced himself before singing and playing his accoustic guitar.

And Mingyu couldn't help feeling irritated.

He turned his gaze from Jeonghan and glanced to the stage. At the center was Hong Jisoo, on his way in his first song. As soon as he ended the song, the crowd went wild.

"Thank you. Thank you. I would like to play my next song, but I need help from you guys. Let's see..."

Jisoo started turning his head, eyes searching the crowd. Mingyu knew even before it happened. Jisoo would stop at their table. Mingyu was right.

Jisoo's eyes landed on their table, on Jeonghan actually, and he said, "Would you sing with me?"

Jeonghan's eyes widened in surprise and he pointed a finger to himself, mouthing "Me?".

Jisoo nodded, with that smile which is forever plastered to his face.

Jeonghan turned his head to look at his friends. Mingyu saw excitement in his eyes and felt guilty for hating it.

The others encouraged him to go, but Jeonghan didn't do it until Mingyu said "Just go." With those words you could see Jeonghan's excitement exploding, twinkle in his eyes and his lips bursting into a smile.

When Jeonghan was on the stage, he looked like he belonged there. There's not even a hint of nervousness, as if he's done this for years. Confidence ran through his voice, capturing the crowd into a trance. His face relaxed and he looked beautiful.

Usually it would make Mingyu's chest brimming with a very pleasant feeling. With love. But now a terrible feeling was taking over. Burning slowly in his chest.

Mingyu turned at Jisoo. He was looking at Jeonghan from the side. Mingyu saw the look in Jisoo's eyes and thought that it must be how he usually looks like whenever he sees Jeonghan. But now, he's not so sure.

* * *

It was getting late and Jihoon thought that he should call it a day. But he saw Mingyu and Seokmin giggling like a school girl, Soonyoung butting in and turned the giggle into laughter, Jeonghan laughing and hitting the table.

It scrapped the thought of going home out of Jihoon's head.

For a while Jihoon just enjoyed his time by listening to his friend's jokes and looking around. At some point the club's atmosphere started to change. Earlier the place exuded more of relaxing vibe. Now the music started to get louder and the air gets hotter.

Another song came up and Soonyoung suddenly stood up from his chair.

"Oh! I gotta dance to this!"

He started to walk towards the open space, but then he stopped his tracks and went back to their table. He stopped in front of Jihoon and let out his hand. Jihoon raised his eyebrows.

"Come on."

"No."

Soonyoung started to pout and made this whiny high pitched voices, so Jihoon decided to ignore him. But Soonyoung didn't give him the chance as he dragged Jihoon out of their table.

"Hey!" Jihoon protested but in a flash they were already at the center of the open space.

Soonyoung started to move his body, following the music. Jihoon had seen him dancing before, but his dance never stops to amaze. When he's dancing, his eyes changed. There were still that same excitement he has all of the time, but now it turned into a burning passion, something what people would describe as sexy. At least the crowd around Jihoon seemed to think so. It didn't take long before people started to turn their attention to Soonyoung, flocked around him, clapping and cooing.

Soonyoung was so focused in dancing. Jihoon let him be and just looked at him, bobbing his head along with the other audiences. But then Soonyoung turned his gaze to Jihoon. He was still in his dancing mode so the gaze was piercing. It was not his usual silly eyes, but Jihoon somehow sensed that it will bring the same outcome after all. Soonyoung was up to no good.

Jihoon's prediction came true when Soonyoung slid towards him and pulled him by the arms. When they're inches apart, he moved his body again and looked at Jihoon, signaling him to follow.

The crowd's attention was still at Soonyoung and it was all over Jihoon too. Jihoon felt uncomfortable, but let his eyes drift to Soonyoung and his ears focusing on the music. His head started to block out the crowd's stares and their cooing, and Jihoon's body moved.

The crowd's cheer grew louder, but it never reached Jihoon's ears.

* * *

Jihoon was covered in sweat when he went back to their table. Seokmin, Mingyu, and Jeonghan welcomed him with exaggerated cheer.

"You. Were. Awesome!" Seokmin patted his back excitedly and Mingyu followed.

Jeonghan was wiping his fake tears. "I'm so proud of you."

Jihoon rolled his eyes.

"How is he not tired?" Jihoon pointed at the open space with his chin.

"He's never tired." Seokmin said as-matter-of-factly. Jihoon was convinced.

"You do, though." Seokmin continued.

"Yeah, I guess I've been forcing myself too much recently."

"Definitely. You look _terrible_."

Jihoon's eyebrows twitch at the words, but he looked at Seokmin's face, at that sunshine-like smile, and decided that the guy never meant any harm.

"That's why Soonyoung was determined to bring you here today."

"Huh?"

"He was worried that you might drop unconscious on some street because you're too tired physically. Or maybe yo'll get mentally fatigued and suddenly break out into a dance at the middle of the campus ground."

"Hey, _he_ danced at the middle of the campus ground."

Seokmin shrugged.

Jihoon sighed. "Right."

Just then Soonyoung came back to their table.

Jeonghan said to him, "You're done already?"

"My time is over," he said, and the upbeat music turned into a slow one. Soonyoung looked at Jeonghan and Mingyu.

"You guys should dance!"

Jeonghan's smile grew wider at the words and he turned to face Mingyu, but Mingyu mumbled his hesitation. He didn't even look Jeonghan in the eyes. Jeonghan managed to stop his smile from falling apart, but he couldn't keep his shoulders from slumping down.

Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Seokmin raised their eyebrows at Mingyu's unexpected reaction, but Jeonghan just said somewhat casually, "He's tired laughing for hours."

Jeonghan let out a small laugh and Mingyu finally turned to face him. He looked at Jeonghan sheepishly and grabbed his arm softly. Jeonghan let himself being pulled to the open space.

When they reached an empty spot, Mingyu let go of Jeonghan's arms. For a moment he moved his hands around in confusion, so Jeonghan grabbed his hands and put them around his own waist. As Mingyu's hands were settled in their places, Jeonghan put his around Mingyu's neck. For a while they stayed like that, body moving slowly to the music. Mingyu's eyes were looking at the floor all the time.

Jeonghan looked at Mingyu's face with a soft look on his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Mingyu's head jerked at the words. Finally his eyes met Jeonghan's.

"I knew you don't like Jisoo, but I ignored your feelings and went on stage anyway. I won't do it again."

Mingyu's tense face softened his lips formed an apologetic smile.

"No, I'm... I was being a jerk. You were doing what you love but I couldn't stop feeling jealous and be a crappy boyfriend."

Jeonghan let out a small laugh and brought his face closer to Mingyu's. Mingyu let his head fall down and his forehead touched Jeonghan's.

Still in that position, Jeonghan said, "I would be sad if you weren't the slightest bit jealous though."

Mingyu chuckled. "Just don't make me jealous too much, okay?"

Jeonghan hummed and Mingyu closed his eyes. He let himself drown in Jeonghan's touch against his skins and the soft music surrounding them. The burning feeling in his chest was now gone.

* * *

Jihoon looked at the dancing couple. He ignored the pang in his chest and focused on the relief at seeing his two best friends looking relaxed and happy.

He turned his attention back to Soonyoung who was sitting next to him. Seokmin was off the counter to hit on a girl. Apparently it was the sales girl who sold Seokmin the key chain. Seokmin babbled about how this must be fate and left. Jihoon and Soonyoung went on to talk about school, their friends, SoonSeok's next gig. Just random stuffs. It went on a while until Soonyoung noticed something at the counter.

"Looks like he needs help."

"Yeah, the girl looks like she's ready to slap him."

"Well, Seokmin doesn't need to worry. He has the best wingman one could ask for."

Jihoon doubted that but he didn't stop Soonyoung. After a while, Jeonghan and Mingyu were back. They heard the sound of slapping twice. Seokmin and Soonyoung went back to the table after that. They had this blank look on their faces but no for long. Soon they were laughing with Jeonghan and Mingyu.

Jihoon thought that their laugh was easily the best music he heard today. Though he was missing a certain snarky voice and a deep lazy one, for now he was happy with this.

He turned to Soonyoung and said, "Hey."

Soonyoung turned to look at him.

"Thanks."

Soonyoung looked like he had no idea what Jihoon was saying, but he smiled anyway.

"Sure, pal!"


	8. Start

It was the first time in weeks that the five of them gathered in the same place (not including lunch time when Wonwoo and Jun sit in the cafeteria as far as possible from Jihoon, Jeonghan, and Mingyu). Now they were face to face at their neighborhood's public park.

Jeonghan was the first one who said hi. If he sensed the tension between them, he didn't show it in his smile. Jun replied casually (he never deliberately avoided the three anyway), while Jihoon tried not glare at Wonwoo, who only nodded and refused to look at their faces directly. Mingyu was giving his best shot at acting natural while keeping a safe distance between him and Jeonghan (their sides were glued to each other but Mingyu jumped away immediately after he saw Wonwoo).

Not even a minute had passed since their awkward greeting when they heard a cracking sound. It made them turned their heads, almost at the same time, towards the source: a small wooden bench. There was a heap of random things on it; carton boxes in various sizes, plastic bags, a pole, and a carton pop up shaped like a cedar tree.

As soon as they turned their heads, the bench cracked in two, right in the middle. A plastic bag fell over, a bit far from the now broken pieces of wood, throwing up gold glitter paper confetti. Wind flew by, and the confetti danced in the air before falling down onto the grass, slides, see-saw, and lamps.

The park turned into a mess before they even had the chance to blink.

"What the—"

Jihoon's expression of disbelief was cut off by an angry growl from behind their backs. This time they turned their heads very slowly.

Behind them was a man with thick mustache and whitish hair. And, most importantly, he had a pair of brown eyes shooting death glares at them.

Mingyu took a hammer in his hand and groaned.

"Why do we have to do this?" he wrinkled his forehead as he looked at the mess in front of him.

"Those stuffs are not ours!" Wonwoo exclaimed.

"We're just at the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"He didn't even listen to us!"

"Yeah!"

The two were caught in a heated complaining session. In a few minutes they said more words to each other than they did the last few weeks.

Meanwhile, Jihoon stood beside them, staring at the pile of broken wood with a dark look in his eyes.

"Whoever put these things..." he mumbled something under his breath.

The angry grumbling and creepy mumbling were interrupted by a nonchalant voice.

"At least the old man gave us the tools."

Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Jihoon stopped to glare at Jun who only shrugged as his hand went through a box of carpenting tools. Jeonghan laughed and earned himself some glares too.

Jihoon sighed and turned to Wonwoo and Mingyu. "I guess the faster we do it the better."

Wonwoo and Mingyu groaned, almost in a sync.

Nobody wanted to deal with the confetti scattered all over the park so they let Jun sweep first and said they'll help after finishing the bench. Jun didn't mind (he loved sweeping, actually) and headed out with a broom in his hands and light footsteps.

The rest of them got their hands on some woods and carpenting tools. They somehow build a new bench from scratch (by following Mingyu's instruction).

"Ugh... Now we just have to paint it." Mingyu groaned while stretching his arms.

"How's Jun-hyung doing?" Jihoon said as he turned his head towards the rest of the park. The others followed and saw Jun dancing with his broom while getting the job done at the same time.

"Well, looks like he's having fun." Jihoon said in a sarcastic tone and made everyone chuckled.

"Hm?" Jeonghan let out a confused sound while tilting his head. His gaze was directed to a part of the bench that was on Wonwoo's side.

"Why is that part so messy?"

Now everyone looked at Wonwoo who was working on the bench's arm while humming a girl group song with his low voice. His wrist swung in sync with the melody, bringing the brush along in jovial swings.

Mingyu let out a gasp. "Wonwoo-hyung, you can't do it like that! The paint won't come out nicely."

Wonwoo looked at the others with a confused look. Mingyu sighed and showed him an example.

"Like this, from one side to the other. Don't change the direction, okay?"

Wonwoo nodded and obediently followed Mingyu's example, but his hand stopped when Mingyu started whining. "The already damaged arm... What should we do about it... But, there's nothing we can do until the paint dries. Ugh, why did hyung ruin it."

Wonwoo gave Mingyu a glare, but the younger didn't even flinch.

"You ruined Jun-hyung's banner too," he continued to whine.

Wonwoo raised his brush and swung it in an attempt to get some paint over Mingyu. Instead he spattered some over Jihoon who was sitting between them.

"Hey!" Jihoon swung his brush towards Wonwoo and got some paint over him too.

Jeonghan who sat near the other arm of the bench laughed. He raised his brush too and swung it towards Jihoon.

Mingyu stood up and step away just in time to avoid the spatter of paint flying through the place where he just sat. The paint fight continued for a while, leaving all four of them out of breath for laughing and splats of paint over their bodies (Mingyu somehow stayed clean though).

Jeonghan said between his breath. "Oh, I miss this..."

Wonwoo's eyes met Jeonghan's. The older looked like he was about to say something, but Wonwoo quickly averted his gaze. Seeing the longing and gentleness in Jeonghan's eyes, Wonwoo knew what he was about to say and decided he was not ready to hear it. Not because he didn't want to. In fact he felt the same way, but couldn't do anything about it. Not until he do something with the constant bubble of heat in his chest. So Wonwoo pretended to be invested in continuing the painting. His eyes focused on his side of the bench.

"Wait, don't paint that part yet, Jihoon." Mingyu's voice made Jihoon's hand stopped.

"We need another color for that," Mingyu said as he stood up. "I'll go get it."

"I'm going to. I need to clean my hands." Jeonghan said as he stood up too.

"Why bother, you're going to get it dirty again."

"But I feel sticky."

Mingyu rolled his eyes and got his right arm pinched by Jeonghan.

"Hey! You got paint on me!" Mingyu scowled and Jeonghan's hearty laugh filled the air.

Then Jeonghan saw the look on Mingyu's eyes and started running. The grin on his face made him look a few years younger. Mingyu smirked and dashed towards him. At first it was just Mingyu chasing Jeonghan, but then they stopped, looked at each other, and started running towards Jun who was still sweeping and lost in his own world. The two went running like hyperactive high school boys, waving their brushes towards Jun.

Wonwoo and Jihoon watched them for a while before turning their heads towards each other.

At first both looked surprised. They didn't expect to meet each other's gaze. It was silent for a while. Wonwoo looked like there's something stuck in his throat so Jihoon waited.

After a moment, Wonwoo lowered his head and said, "They make each other smile so easily. They make each other _happy_. I should be happy for them." Wonwoo said in a small voice, but clear enough to be heard by Jihoon.

Wonwoo lifted his head in a slow and unsure movement to look at Jihoon.

"Why can't I be happy for them?".

Jihoon looked back to his eyes. There's sadness in Jihoon's eyes, although Wonwoo was not sure whether it's a mirror of his or Jihoon's own. Despite that, Jihoon smiled.

He patted Wonwoo's back and said, "It's okay." The words didn't bring any consolation to the burning heat in Wonwoo's chest, but Jihoon's smile and touch on his back felt comfortable. So he held onto the sight and the touch as he waited for the heat to cool down.

They almost finished painting and four people were too much to finish the rest of the job, so Wonwoo excused himself to help Jun. For a while he got himself immersed in sweeping, letting his head empty but with the thought of moving his body and the image of the confetti.

Wonwoo's ears picked up a sound of laugh and it made him glanced back to the bench. He saw Mingyu grinning, barring his canines. It's not hard to figure out who made him like that. The answer was right in front of Mingyu, smiling as wide as him.

Wonwoo couldn't count how many times Jeonghan made Mingyu smiled today.

For a while Wonwoo stood there with broom in his hands, looking absentmindedly towards the bench. Then he felt a presence coming beside him along with the sound of broom slightly scratching the grass. Wonwoo didn't need to turn his head to know that it's Jun.

Wonwoo could hear Jun busily gathering the bags of confetti in one place. He broke out from his thoughts and moved his hands to help.

"Now we're done." Jun said as he took his hands off the last bag of confetti.

Wonwoo didn't say anything. His eyes wandered over Jun's face, looking for something. What, Wonwoo himself didn't know.

Jun looked at Wonwoo for a moment. He had an impassive expression so Wonwoo couldn't guess what he was thinking. Jun had never been expressive. Sure, he showed a lot of his snarky and mischievous side, but that's it. Either that or this... masked Junhui. Wonwoo had never seen him extremely happy, upset or angry. No burst of emotions like what he felt almost every single day. Maybe that's what Wonwoo was looking for. The way to tranquility.

After a moment of silent and stare boring into Wonwoo's eyes, Jun finally said.

"It's okay."

Wonwoo wrinkled his eyebrows in a scowl, but his face looked more desperate than angry.

"Jihoon said the same thing."

"I see."

"But, how can it be okay? It's _not_ okay. I feel- I can't—I just can't do this anymore."

Something in Wonwoo's face must've changed because now Jun's eyes didn't look so empty. It's not pity, but something else that Wonwoo couldn't put a name on.

"I feel _angry_ all the time. It's tiring... And I miss them." He almost choked those last words.

Jun didn't say anything and Wonwoo was fine with that. He was feeling guilty for Jun too. Jun didn't have to listen to all this crap. Hell, he didn't have to stop hanging out with the others to accompany him. But he did. That's more than Wonwoo could've asked for.

Wonwoo turned his head to see the other three bending over the bench. His glance fell into Jihoon and he sighed.

"How can he handle... this... this _thing_." Wonwoo thought he should stop complaining like this but he couldn't help it. And it made him feel worse.

"He's tough."

Jun finally said something. Wonwoo turned to face him.

"And I'm weak."

"Yeah, but it's fine." Jun turned to face him. "I'm here to babysit you," he said. His face went back to that deadpan expression and it's starting to get on Wonwoo's nerves.

"I don't need a babysitter."

"You've had babysitters for quite some time, Jeon Wonwoo. Who called to make sure you're up and ready for class? Who always nagged you to not forget to eat? Who always dragged your lazy ass from the bench to get to class?"

The answers were right across them, the three figures bending over the bench, and Wonwoo refused to look.

"Now I have to take over their jobs, which means I'm your sole babysitter."

Wonwoo pouted. "You don't have to."

Jun blinked for a few seconds before turning his head back to the front. "Just let me be. Consider it a payment."

"For what?"

"For throwing up in my bed."

Wonwoo groaned. "Why are you bringing this up? After all this time?"

Jun just shrugged.

Wonwoo looked at Jun's profile, thinking of the words "thank you" that got stuck in his throat along with "I'm sorry". He was trying his best to choke it out of him when Jun turned to face him again with a gentle smile.

"Come on." He tilted his head towards the bench. Jeonghan and Mingyu were waving at them, grinning widely. Jihoon looked at Wonwoo and Jun with a proud smile on his face. The brand new bench was standing perfectly beside them.

Their smiles made him swallowed back the words in his throat and the guilt in his chest dissipated. Made the awkwardness of his reactions when he joined them admiring the new bench felt more comfortable. Made him feel okay when he could only managed a nod to reply to their "See you around" and a stiff smile in respond to their endearing ones. Made it less hurt to see Mingyu and Jeonghan walking side by side, fingers slightly touching. Wonwoo felt that those smiles were telling him that his friends will be there when he's ready, so it's okay to take it slow.

As he walked away from the park, Wonwoo felt somehow at peace.

Jihoon looked at his friends' backs until they all disappeared from sight. He did intend to go home, but the afternoon wind felt so good and he just wanted to bask in this comfortable feeling for a while.

"Jihoon!"

Hearing his name, Jihoon turned his head and saw a familiar figure with blond hair. The figure, Kwon Soonyoung, fastened his face and waved his hand excitedly. He's grinning wide, but when he got closer to Jihoon, the smile dropped a bit, his face looking confused.

"Where are my stuffs?"

Jihoon raised his eyebrows. "What stuff?"

"My theater props. I put them on the bench there. Oh, hey, is the bench new? I swore it wasn't green this morning. Or maybe I was wrong? But—Whoa!"

Soonyoung's words were cut as he saw Jihoon swinging a broom towards him.

"What are you doing?!" Soonyoung screamed as he ran for his life.

"COME HERE YOU KWON SOONYOUNG!"

Jihoon lay on the ground, his chest heaving. It was pretty cold, but he was all sweaty. He could feel beads of sweat on his forehead. It was not entirey uncomfortable, though. The sweat, the breeze, and the grass brushing his uncovered arms. It all felt nice.

He could hear someone panting on the ground next to him. He let the person be. The guy had already got what he deserved.

Moments passed like that and there was a russle. Soonyoung's face came into view soon after. Soonyoung was standing over him and looking down.

"Let's go to Mintsy's."

Jihoon sat up. "Nah, I'm going home. I have classes and work tomorrow. I want to rest."

"Let's eat then. You need to eat too."

"I'll eat at home."

Soonyoung whined.

"If you want to eat you can just eat alone."

"But it's no fun eating aloooone," Soonyoung continued to whine while making pouty faces.

Jihoon groaned.

"Thanks for the ride, hyung." Jihoon said as he stood beside Jeonghan's car. They were in front of the recording company where Jihoon worked. They just finished class and Jeonghan offered Jihoon a ride.

"No problem." Jeonghan said with a wide smile. "See you tomorrow!"

Jeonghan waved and put his hands back to the wheels when Jisoo came from the entrance door. He said hi to Jihoon and stepped closer to Jeonghan's car.

"You should come in too, Jeonghan."

Jeonghan smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm just dropping Jihoon off."

"I need you to meet someone."

Jeonghan looked confused at Jisoo's words.

"You see... My producer and I are wondering if you want to work with us."

Jeonghan's eyes widened in an instant. He turned to face Jihoon and saw that he's not the only one who took this as a surprise.


	9. Rest

When Wonwoo saw Mingyu sitting on a bench at their campus ground-head thrown to the back, mouth slightly gaping-he thought that he never felt so foolish.

 _I actually like this guy?_

Wonwoo felt the familiar irritated feeling creeping in his chest and immediately took a deep breath. He'd been trying to control his breath every time he felt emotional. When he felt calm enough, he threw his blue cardigan towards Mingyu. The cardigan draped over Mingyu's face.

"Hey!" Mingyu let out a muffled sound. He removed the cardigan with his right hand and turned his head around, looking for the culprit. When he spotted Wonwoo, he squinted his eyes and threw back the cardigan.

"What's that for?"

"So the world doesn't have to see your ugly face." Wonwoo deadpanned.

Mingyu shook his head and made clicking sound with his mouth before putting his hand under his chin. He said with a smug smile, "Which part of this is ugly?".

And with that Wonwoo snapped. A part of him was angry at Mingyu for flashing that overly-confident smile, while the other part was angry at himself for still having butterflies upon seeing that smile. Wonwoo let out his frustration by throwing his bag towards Mingyu. Mingyu caught it effortlessly.

"Breathe, Wonwoo..." Wonwoo muttered before sitting next to Mingyu and taking another deep breath. Mingyu watched him with eyebrows raised, but said nothing until Wonwoo started breathing normally again and took his bag from Mingyu's hands.

"Weird." Mingyu said.

"Says the person who sits here gaping like a drunk."

Mingyu growled his protests, which Wonwoo ignored. After that Mingyu went silent. Wonwoo glanced at him and saw him brooding.

"What's with the face?"

"Handsome, right?"

Wonwoo hit him on the arm and Mingyu let out an "ow!".

"Spit it out. Your moping face is annoying me."

"Okay, okay." Mingyu said as he rubbed his right arm. "I, uh... Having a fight with Jeonghan-hyung. Uh, well, actually we didn't fight? I kinda... got angry and walked out on him."

Wonwoo sighed. "What kind of idiocy did you do?"

"Ugh, will you listen to me?"

"I'm listening!"

"While throwing unnecessary sarcasm!"

"Okay, I'll shut up."

Mingyu looked at Wonwoo suspiciously before continuing his story. "I saw Jeonghan-hyung sitting at the cafeteria with _Choi Seungcheol_." Mingyu said Seungcheol's name with a hint of frustration. "I got angry. I went to them. Hyung said that he was helping Seungcheol on an assignment. I left."

Wonwoo sighed, again. Hearing that sigh Mingyu quickly responded, "I know, I know... It's just that... You should've seen Seungcheol! His eyes! He's definitely eyeing for Hyung's lips the whole time!"

"Are you sure you're not imagining that?"

"No!"

"I don't know much about Seungcheol but from what I do know, I'd say he's not a jerk. He knows Jeonghan-hyung's dating you. Hell, everyone knows. He won't make a move on someone who's taken."

"But-"

"And are you seriously doubting Jeonghan-hyung?"

"I'm not doubting him!"

"Well, you sure act like you do."

Mingyu's face turned white on Wonwoo's words. "Oh no... Hyung... I must've hurt him..."

Mingyu put his face in his hands. Wonwoo just let him be.

After a few minutes of silence, Mingyu said something with his face still buried in his hands. "Jealousy is... Hard..."

Wonwoo sighed for the nth time this day.

 _Tell me about it._

"It'll be fine." Wonwoo said. Mingyu took his head from his hands and looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Avoiding those eyes, Wonwoo moved his gaze towards the grass below and said, "Just apologize to him. He'll understand." With a side glance, Wonwoo could see that Mingyu nodded.

"And next time you're about to burst out again, take a deep breath first."

Mingyu put on a small smile. "Thanks, Wonwoo-hyung."

Wonwoo nodded. Then he stood up and patted Mingyu's back quickly before he left. As he walked away, he let out another sigh. But he felt somehow lighter. He could feel his lips curved into a small smile.

Jeonghan jerked his head up and flashed Jihoon his usual smile when he noticed Jihoon walking towards him. Jihoon smiled back.

Jihoon knew that Jeonghan was forcing himself. He saw how Jeonghan was a few seconds ago, dropping his shoulders, eyes looking at his opened book with blank stare.

"He's an idiot, but he'll come to his senses eventually," Jihoon said as he took a seat across Jeonghan. They were at the cafeteria, which is empty of its usual crowd of hungry students since it's well past lunch time.

The edges of Jeonghan's lips dropped a bit, but it actually made Jihoon felt relieved. His friend finally stopped putting up a front.

"Yeah... I'll talk to him when he's calmed down... But..." Jeonghan hesitated on his words.

Jihoon sensed that there's another reason Jeonghan seemed so concerned. "You don't have to stress over it."

Jeonghan shook his head. "Mingyu won't take it well."

Jihoon knew he's right. It's apparent from how Mingyu had been acting on his feelings. His attitude towards Jeonghan and Seungcheol today was one example.

"...But you want this."

Jeonghan replied without hesitation. "Yes."

"He cares for you. He'll try to understand. You should at least talk to him about it."

"You're right." Jeonghan let out a chuckle. "Why am I so worried like this? Ha ha ha." Jeonghan's laugh was dry.

Jihoon patted Jeonghan's hand and was replied with a small squeeze.

Jeonghan said with a small voice, "I guess I'm just scared... I don't want to lose him."

Jihoon squeezed back.

When Jeonghan waved Jihoon goodbye, he looked better. His smile wasn't forced anymore. Jihoon waved back. He stood still until Jeonghan turned his back and finally went out of sight.

Jeonghan's smile was back, but Jihoon felt terrible. A bunch of "what if" whirling in his head. What if Mingyu refused to accept Jeonghan's decision? What if they broke up? _What if he wanted them to break up?_

The thought hit his stomach like a hard punch, he felt like throwing up.

Just then, his phone beeped. It was a message.

 _From: Soonyoung  
Jihoon! Let's grab a burger!_

Jihoon texted his reply before putting his phone back to his pocket and walked away. When he arrived at the burger place, Soonyoung was already seated. Two burgers, two cola, and a pack of french fries on the table.

Jihoon sat down and said his thanks before looking at the burger in front of him. He's not sure if his stomach was ready, but Soonyoung was waiting with burger in his hand, so Jihoon grabbed his and took a bite. It turned out that his stomach was okay. The burger was delicious, it's his favorite meat and egg with a bit of extra mayonaise.

Jihoon continued to dig on his burger, but stopped when he felt Soonyoung's gaze on him.

"What?" Jihoon growled as he looked up from his burger.

Soonyoung put down his burger and put his hand on his own chin instead. "I was just wondering why people tend to see you as younger than you are. I think you look old. Like really old. I mean, with all those frowns on your face?"

Jihoon couldn't believe Soonyoung just interrupted his perfect time with his burger for this. He grabbed a french fries and threw it towards Soonyoung. Soonyoung just laughed as it hit the zipper of his sweatshirt. The french fries fell to his lap and he took it with his hand, bringing it to his mouth.

As he looked at Soonyoung's playful smile and gleaming eyes, Jihoon noticed how his own face relaxed. He didn't even realize that he was tense. He could feel his lips curving up before taking another bite at his burger.


	10. Aware

"Ha, ha, ha. Look at this one! Your nostrils look so big!" said Jeonghan as he looked at the photo booth sticker on his hand. They were at the arcade area of their town's theme park.

Mingyu didn't look at the photos. Instead he was looking at Jeonghan's face with a gentle gaze and a smile. After a few moments Jeonghan noticed Mingyu's gaze and flashed a smile towards his boyfriend.

"What?" Jeonghan's eyes gleamed in curiosity.

"Nothing," replied Mingyu. The gentle gaze was still there, but the smile had turned into a silly grin.

"What is iiiiiit?" Jeonghan pouted at Mingyu's reply.

Mingyu just chuckled and shook his head. When he stopped laughing and turned his face, Mingyu's eyes looked straight at Jeonghan's. They were shaky from worry. And probably guilt, Jeonghan thought. They had been seen in Mingyu's eyes from time to time since the day he walked out on Jeonghan at the cafeteria.

Jeonghan looked back at Mingyu and smiled. Then he took Mingyu's hand in his and leaned closer, dropping his face onto Mingyu's arm.

Mingyu could feel Jeonghan giggling into his arm. It made Mingyu smiled too.

"Anyway, why am I Minnie?" Mingyu wiggled the mouse-ear-shaped hairband on his head. It's identical to the one on Jeonghan's head, but there was a red ribbon with white polka-dot on Mingyu's.

"Because I like Mickey." Jeonghan said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I like Mickey too." Mingyu pouted. Jeonghan just laughed. Mingyu didn't mind. He loved Jeonghan's laugh.

"Next time... Let's wear Minions..." Jeonghan felt hesitation in Mingyu's voice. He also sensed the tense in Mingyu's body. Or maybe it's his own body. It's hard to know for sure and it made Jeonghan jittery.

But in a second Jeonghan got his composure back. He tightened his grip around Mingyu's hand and said, "Okay." He was rewarded with Mingyu's hand squeezing back. This made Jeonghan happy. He was right for not letting worry about tomorrow spoil a day with Mingyu. Jeonghan's smile remained bright for the rest of the day.

* * *

Jihoon, Jeonghan, and Mingyu were already seated with food in front them when Jun passed their table at the cafeteria. The brown-haired stopped to have a chat with them.

"Get your food and sit here," said Jeonghan.

Jun replied, "Nah. I'm waiting for Wonwoo." Jeonghan looked obviously disappointed, but he smiled and said casually, "Okay."

Not long after they saw Wonwoo near the door, turning his head around. After he spotted them, he walked straight to their table.

When he was close enough, Wonwoo said hi. His face was his usual impassive one, but there's hesitation in his voice. After the rest of them replied to his greeting, he turned to look at Jun and then Jihoon before sitting next to Jeonghan.

"Will you get me the soup and chicken cutlet set?" he said to Jun.

"Why don't you get it yourself?"

"I'm already seated, you're still on your feet. Besides, aren't you my babysitter?"

Jun reached out his arms towards Wonwoo, but Wonwoo, sensing the ill intentions, quickly countered them with his own. When Wonwoo almost caught Jun's hands, he felt a different pair of arms on his waist.

"Ugh, Jeonghan-hyung! Stop clinging!" Wonwoo was panting from the attack of both sides.

Jeonghan let out a hearty laugh before removing his arms from Wonwoo. "Mom will get your lunch. Jun too. What do you want?"

Jun stopped attacking Wonwoo. "Nah, I'll go with you."

After Jun and Jeonghan left, the table went quiet until Wonwoo took a glance towards Mingyu who sat on his side of the table.

"Stop grinning." Wonwoo snapped. "You too, Jihoon. It's creepy."

Jihoon only snickered in response. Wonwoo wanted to get back to him but decided it'd be wiser to get to Mingyu instead. He turned to Mingyu and his surroundings to find anything that he could use to wipe that grin from his face. Then he spotted Mingyu's phone lying on the table. The back of the phone was covered in black casing with a square-shaped sticker just under the camera. Wonwoo leaned forward and grabbed the phone before Mingyu could register what happened.

"Hey!"

"Let's see." Wonwoo took the phone in his hand and looked at the sticker on the back. It was a picture of Mingyu and Jeonghan with the side of their heads touching, hairbands shaped in mouse ear on their heads.

"Ew." Wonwoo deadpanned as he put the phone back to the table.

Mingyu looked offended. Then he looked over Wonwoo's shoulder and said, "Jeonghan-hyung! Wonwoo-hyung mocked our photo sticker." He pouted.

Jeonghan and Jun were back with trays on their hands. Jeonghan slipped between Wonwoo and Mingyu, while Jun sat next to Jihoon.

Jeonghan glanced at Mingyu while setting Wonwoo's food on the table. "It is kinda over the top, Mingyu."

"What? But you loved it when we took them! Don't tell me..." Mingyu's eyes widened in horror. "You threw the pictures away?"

"No, silly. I put it here." Jeonghan took out his wallet from his pocket and showed him the pictures neatly tucked inside. It made Mingyu grinning in satisfaction.

"Anyway, it was a great theme park. You know, the one just opened a few weeks ago?" said Jeonghan.

"I heard there's an illumination park inside," said Jihoon.

"Yeah! It's beautiful. There's even this small lake, the lights are on the water. Looked like stars on dark sky. So romantic," said Mingyu with a foolish grin.

Wonwoo raised his eyebrows. "...On the water..." he muttered.

"Like the illumination park in Japan, the set of _Corridor of Light_ ," said Jun. Wonwoo nodded. The title Jun mentioned was from a novel book Wonwoo read a few months ago. He had lent it to Jun. They both love to read novels and exchange recommendations from time to time.

"What's that? A book?" Jeonghan asked. Wonwoo nodded and Jeonghan said, "You should go and see if it's similar to the book!"

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. "Going to a theme park alone? No hyung, no thanks."

"I'll go as your babysitter, Won Won," Jun said while chewing his food.

Wonwoo took one of Jeonghan's meatballs and threw it towards Jun. Jun somehow caught it with his mouth and chewed on it cheerfully. Mingyu clapped like a seal, Jeonghan cooed, Jihoon shook his head, leaving Wonwoo with his deadpan look.

* * *

"You knew?" said Mingyu. He was at Jihoon's kitchen-slash-dining-room, sitting across Jihoon. It was a little past 6 PM. Jihoon went straight home after lunch and been working on a song when he received a text from Mingyu. It said that Mingyu needed to talk so Jihoon told him to come over.

Jihoon nodded at Mingyu's question. "I was there when the talk happened. And the producer asked me to help him working on hyung's songs."

Mingyu fiddled with his cup, running his fingers over the handle and rotating the cup at random directions. When he said nothing, Jihoon asked, "So, what did you say?"

"We didn't get to finish our talk. Seokmin came, and then Minghao came, and we just, yeah." Mingyu dropped his head on the table, his right cheek plastered on the wooden surface.

"I don't like it," he said. "Jisoo won't leave him alone. I know, I know, I'm paranoid. And I'm acting like I don't trust Jeonghan-hyung. I trust him, I do, but... I just don't like it."

Jihoon didn't say anything. He just pour some drink into Mingyu's cup. Mingyu straightened his back again and took a sip.

"Hyung didn't have to consult me. He wants it, he can just do it. But he did..." Mingyu closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them back, he said, "He cares for what I have to say about this matter."

Mingyu looked at Jihoon. "I guess what I can do for him is to let him live his dreams."

Jihoon smiled, "See. You figured it out yourself."

Mingyu replied with a weak smile. "But I'm not sure if I can really handle it. You know how I can be."

"Yeah, you can be an emotional jerk."

"You and Wonwoo-hyung are the worst listeners."

Jihoon let out a strained laugh before saying, "You're willing to make the effort. I know it's not easy, but you do it anyway. That's admirable."

Mingyu smiled a bit brighter. "I take it back about you being the worst listener. Well, at least you give better compliments. I feel a lot better now." He stood up from his chair. "Let me cook you something. We have to go to the supermarket first though. We can't cook anything healthy with the junk in your fridge."

Jihoon said, "Okay", but didn't move from his seat. When Mingyu gestured him to get up, he said, "You're going to repay me for my compliment and comfort, right? Then you should do all the work."

"No. You're coming with me." Mingyu said as he dragged Jihoon by the shoulder. "You spend too many hours holed up inside your room."

Jihoon protested, but he was smiling.

* * *

Jun and Jihoon were inside a gazebo in their neighborhood's park, hunched over some notes and text books. Not quite far from the gazebo were Jeonghan and Mingyu, sitting on their bench (well, it's not _their_ bench, but they did make it themselves).

At some point Soonyoung came with a plastic bag. He fished out some drinks and snacks from the bag and gave them to Jun and Jihoon. He was responded with sincere thanks from the worn-out students.

Jun eyed the bottled coffee Soonyoung put in front of Jihoon. "It's not good to pamper him too much." Jun was never the type that nags, but he always took the chance to reprimand Jihoon for his addiction to caffeine.

Jihoon just grunted, not stopping the pen in his hand nor moving his eyes from his note. Meanwhile Soonyoung flashed an apologetic smile towards Jun before turning towards Jihoon. "They run out of the avocado mix, so I got you the mocha. Sorry."

Jihoon lifted his head to face Soonyoung and gave him a smile. "Thanks," he said, before burying his face in his notes once again.

Soonyoung looked like he was about to say something when Wonwoo came, grumbling something about a girl buying the only copy of a rare book he wanted to buy.

"You didn't get your book. Jun-hyung and I have to deal with all this assignments. Life's tough." Jihoon deadpanned.

"I know. I just wanted to vent out. You're a bad listener."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"Good point." Wonwoo sighed as he finally sat down next to Jun. "I'm so pissed. I think I'll go to that illumination park. Let people say what they want. I don't care. I need to fresh my mind."

"Let's eat first before going," said Jun.

"You don't have to babysit me. I can go by myself."

"There's this delicious noodle shop on the way to the park."

Wonwoo sighed at Jun's blatant act of ignoring his will. "Fine. You really want to go that park, huh?" Jun replied with a decisive nod.

"Which park are you talking about?" Soonyoung chimed in.

"That new one near the bridge. The theme park. There's an illumination area inside," Wonwoo explained.

"Sounds fun! Let's go too, Jihoon!" Soonyoung exclaimed.

Jihoon looked up from his notes. He could see Soonyoung's excited face and Wonwoo's "whatever" look. He also saw Jun's cold stare towards Soonyoung. The target of the the said look was busy googling the park from his phone, while Wonwoo was busy munching the snacks on the table, so Jihoon was the only one who noticed.

To be truth, Jihoon had never seen Jun looked so scary.

"Nah, I'll pass," said Jihoon.

"Aw... Busy working again? Okay, it's just the three of us then. Oh! Let's ask Jeonghan-hyung and Mingyu too!" said Soonyoung.

"No!" Jihoon quickly blurted out. "Why don't we just go to that dance club you mentioned last week?"

"Ooh! Let's go! But..." Soonyoung tilted his head. "You're not busy?"

"No, it's just that... I'm not interested in the park."

Soonyoung didn't even doubt. "Okay then! It's settled! You two, the park. Us two, dance."

Wonwoo hummed in agreement before standing up. "I'm going to get some drinks. Who wants some?"

Soonyoung shook his head while Jun refused by saying he still had some. Jihoon said, "I'm already out of mine. Can you get me some coffee? It's on Jun."

Wonwoo nodded and took his hand out to Jun. Jun raised his eyebrows but give Wonwoo some money anyway. After Wonwoo walked away, Soonyoung suddenly jerked his head and said, "I forgot! I need something too! I'll go with him." And so Jun was left with Jihoon.

"You owe me," said Jihoon.

Jun smirked. "I don't know. This arrangement might benefit both parties."

Jihoon raised his eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jun just shrugged.

"He's a good friend and I enjoy hanging out with him, but I don't see him like the way you're suggesting. And I think the same goes to him," said Jihoon.

Jun tilted his head. "I just have this hunch. When I see his eyes. I thought I recognize that look." Jihoon didn't look satisfied with his answer.

Jun continued, "I might be wrong, but who knows."

That was the end of the talk. Jihoon and Jun went back to their notes. Jihoon didn't have any problem focusing back on his assignments, but he couldn't help thinking about Jun's words when Soonyoung came back with Wonwoo.

Jihoon glanced at Soonyoung who was chatting with Wonwoo. Jun's words brought some questions in his mind and somehow Jihoon thought that he might find the answers by looking at Soonyoung. A few moments later he realized that it was silly of him to think that he could do that just by looking at someone's face.

Then he turned his head towards the bench where Mingyu and Jeonghan were sitting. The couple were intertwining their hands. They looked relaxed, shoulders touching each other's.

Jihoon looked at them for a while until Mingyu turned his head and their eyes met. Mingyu noticed Jihoon and mouthed a "thanks" before giving him a big smile.

Jihoon felt his own lips automatically formed a smile.

* * *

Soonyoung clutched his stomach. His face flushed after sharing a good laugh with Wonwoo. He knew the guy was funny, but he never thought he was _this_ funny.

Wonwoo was laughing too. When he stopped, he said, "I need a break."

"Yeah, me too," said Soonyoung.

They stopped chatting. Wonwoo lay down while Soonyoung leaned back with his hands on his back for support.

Soonyoung looked around to see if there's anything else interesting when his eyes caught Jihoon. The pink haired boy was smiling.

Soonyoung stared at Jihoon. He didn't even realize that he was staring until Jihoon stopped smiling and went back to face his notes.

That moment Soonyoung realized another thing. He loved Jihoon's smile. The thought brought a warm feeling to his chest and a smile to his own lips.


	11. Little Voices

Mingyu squeezed Jeonghan's hand. "Why are you so nervous?" he asked.

Jeonghan let out a strained laugh. "I'm not nervous."

"Yeah right."

"Ugh..." whined Jeonghan while showing his sulking face to Mingyu. It made Mingyu laughed.

"It's just signing a piece of paper," said Mingyu. When he saw Jeonghan's pout, he quickly added, "Okay, okay, it's not just a a piece of paper. But what's there to worry? You want this, right?"

Jeonghan nodded. "I guess I'm not sure if I can do it. I've dreamed of having a career in the music industry, but I've never acted on it. Not like Jihoon. I mean, look at me now. A senior majoring in business. Not that I hate college. I like studying. But..."

Jeonghan looked up at gazed into Mingyu's eyes. "I've been dilly-dallying for so long, I don't think I'm ready."

Mingyu gazed back at Jeonghan's eyes, his piercing yet gentle eyes trying to wipe the worries in Jeonghan's.

"You will be. They will help you prepare. You also have Jihoon in your team. You have me, Wonwoo, and Jun. Well, the three of us might not be able to do much, but..."

Jeonghan nodded several times before saying with a smile, "Thank you."

Mingyu replied with a grin. "Now go inside," he said.

"You sure you don't want to come in? Take a look, maybe."

Mingyu just shook his head. Jeonghan didn't push it.

"Call me when you get home later."

"Okay." Jeonghan gave Mingyu his best smile and walked inside the building.

* * *

Wonwoo grabbed Jun's shoulder from behind.

"Where are you going? The illumination's this way." Wonwoo pointed his thumb towards his left.

Jun looked at him and said as a matter-of-factly. "It's still too early for the illumination and we're already here anyway, so why not play?"

It was too early. The sun has yet to fully set. Jun did have a point. Wonwoo was just feeling too lazy to comply.

But it's more troublesome to deny Jun from his wants.

"...Fine."

Jun moved his feet as soon as he heard the word coming out from Wonwoo's mouth. Wonwoo sighed at how eager his companion was. He didn't complain though. It was usually Jun complying to Wonwoo's wishes. He could at least let him do what he wants once in a while, Wonwoo thought as he followed Jun from behind.

He immediately regretted his decision when he realized where Jun was heading to.

"Of all things. Why spinning teacups?!" Wonwoo groaned.

* * *

Jun rubbed Wonwoo's back as the black haired sat down on a bench, back slumped forward, sweat all over his face.

"Let's just go home," said Jun.

"I'm not going home before seeing the illumination."

Wonwoo could hear Jun let out a small sigh. "Let me get you some hot drink first," said Jun. Wonwoo felt the hand left his back. From the corner of his eyes he saw Jun's worn out sneakers walking away.

Wonwoo felt like there's something trying to push itself out from his body, but got stuck on his throat. It felt terrible.

Not long after, Jun came back and sat next to him. He handed a can of hot tea, probably from a vending machine nearby. Wonwoo took a sip and savored the warmth that the hot liquid brought to his body. After a few sips, he felt considerably better.

When they walked into the illumination spot, it was already past seven. It's weekday, but the place were pretty crowded. The visitors varied, from couples to a group of teenagers. They strolled the entrance tunnel, which was covered in thousands of small yellow lamps shaped like flower petals.

At the end of the tunnel, Wonwoo and Jun were greeted by a huge open space. There were small white lamps on the ground, creating some kind of border around a large pond. On the pond were dots of blue scattered all over the surface.

Wonwoo took a moment to delight in the view. Then he felt a nudge on his right arm. He turned his head and saw Jun pointing to a small hill not far away.

As they got closer to the hill, Wonwoo's steps became slower. He saw that the other visitors on the hill were all couples and that brought hesitation to his steps. On the other hand, Jun didn't seem to notice. He walked in a steady pace until he reached an empty spot and took a seat. Wonwoo followed behind, with a feeling of intruding the couples' rendezvous, and sat down next to Jun.

Still feeling somehow uncomfortable, Wonwoo couldn't stop glancing around him. Then he felt a tug on his shirt. He turned his head to see Jun looking at him with gleaming eyes before turning his head. Wonwoo's gaze followed the same direction.

For a moment Wonwoo thought that the world somehow turned upside down so that the sky was underneath him. He felt like he was hovering above the dark sky and its beautiful stars.

Wonwoo didn't know how long had passed since then. For all he knew, at some point he broke the spell and turned his head to his left. He saw Jun turning his head too and looked at him with a grin. Wonwoo thought that it was such a silly grin, but he didn't dare to point it out because he could feel his own face and was pretty sure that he had the same stupid grin.

"This is nice. Better than the book," said Jun.

"Nothing beats the power of words and the imagination they evoke... I wanted to say that, but yeah, this is way better than my imagination," said Wonwoo.

They spent some time looking at the illumination on the pond, commenting on the shapes of the "constellations".

"That one looks like that ill-proportioned horned helmet. From your game," said Wonwoo as he pointed to the right side of the pond.

"Get real."

"Seriously. That part is the insanely huge horns, okay. And that's the helmet."

"Hmm... Now that you mention it..."

"See! Anyway, have you leveled up? Don't you have to do that to beat Jihoon?"

"Haven't got into it."

Wonwoo raised his eyebrows. That game was one of the things Jun was passionate about beside dancing and books. He could say the same goes for Jihoon because he looked so serious yet having fun every time he had play-date-slash-tournament-night with Jun.

"You guys don't play anymore?"

"Nah. We haven't hang out these days. Busy."

Wonwoo felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He knew that Jun not hanging out much with Jihoon was not just because they're both busy.

"It's because you've been following me around." Wonwoo tried to sound casual, but when he heard the words coming out from his mouth, he's not so sure.

Jun only chuckled at Wonwoo's words. He sounded so carefree, it made Wonwoo irritated. He should've scolded him, Wonwoo thought.

"I don't get it," said Wonwoo as he looked at Jun with a frown. "How did you stick with me the whole time?" With that selfish and immature me, Wonwoo wanted to add, but he swallowed the words.

The carefree look on Jun's face was replaced with an expression of surprise. It was like he didn't expect the words coming from Wonwoo. It was for a split second, but Wonwoo didn't miss it.

Then the disbelief turned into his usual lazy face. He deadpanned, "Because I'm your babysitter. Duh."

Wonwoo scoffed at the answer. No, he was scoffing at himself.

They didn't talk much after that. They spent some more time on the hill in silence before deciding it's time to go home. When they passed the gate and walked through the streets, Wonwoo opened his mouth.

"Thanks..." he said softly, eyes directed to the street in front of him.

Wonwoo heard Jun hummed beside him. He let the sound lingered in his ear for a moment before stealing a glance to the brown haired guy.

Jun was smiling. The sight made Wonwoo smiled too.

* * *

Jihoon had just stepped down from the stairs when he saw Jeonghan entering the building. He turned his gaze across the glass door and saw a smiling Mingyu standing outside. It was only for a short moment. The tall guy walked away not long after. Meanwhile, Jeonghan walked towards the elevator and disappeared as soon as the door opened with a ding.

Jihoon didn't move for a while. He stood frozen as many things came across his head. Mingyu's smile just now. The feel of Jeonghan's hand under his own when he squeezed that hand days ago. Voices, his own and Mingyu's. _Is it for someone you like? Yeah_. How the wind felt nice up there when he was on Mingyu's shoulders.

 _They're working on it and guess what, it does work_ , the voice in his head said. How bitter the voice was made Jihoon shiver.

Feeling the tremble hit his body, Jihoon put his right hand to his pants' pocket to pull out his phone. As soon as he got the phone in his hands, he punched his thumb on the screen.

 _Change of plans. Let's go tonight._

He hit send. It didn't take long before a box popped up on the screen.

 _How about work?_

 _I'm done early for today. Sorry, got plans already?_

 _Nah. Meet you at the park._

 _OK._

Jihoon put his phone back in his pocket and took quick steps towards the door. He didn't slow down until he reached the park. There he saw Soonyoung with his hands in his jacket and back on the pole of the swing. The blonde haired turned his head when he noticed Jihoon walking towards him, showing Jihoon his trademark eye smile.

* * *

Soonyoung sensed someone approaching so he turned his head with a smile ready on his face, even though he had yet confirmed who the person was. Turned out it was Jihoon. Soonyoung's smile grew wider.

They chatted as they walked. Talking about Soonyoung's theater group, Jun's upcoming dance competition, the delicious dumpling Soonyoung ate earlier that day. The conversation didn't stop until they arrived at the entrance of the club.

After they entered, they went straight to the dance floor. Soonyoung could feel the vibration of music and the heat in the air. His body reacted to it with moves so liberating, Soonyoung thought that this must be what it felt like for a bird when it's released from its cage to the open sky. Free and at home.

"This place is great!" Soonyoung said to Jihoon.

Jihoon, also moving his body along with the music, replied with the first smile he showed tonight. "Yeah."

Seeing that smile, Soonyoung realized something.

Until this afternoon, he never knew how happy it made him to see Jihoon smile. And now, this night, he knew how painful it is to see that smile lost behind a façade.


	12. Doubt

Mingyu looked at Jihoon from across the cafeteria table with concern in his eyes.

"Don't tell me you stayed up all night. Again," he said with a grim tone.

"I need to finish this in order to make it for Jisoo's album."

"I know, but do you really have to stay up all night for that?"

Jihoon gave Mingyu a look that made him sigh.

"Sorry, I know this is a big deal for you, and I'm not exactly helping anything by nagging," Mingyu said, desperation in his voice.

Jihoon's eyes softened. He wished he could stop his bad working habits and not make Mingyu worry, but when he's in front of his computer, he couldn't stop himself until he's satisfied. He does not get satisfied easily.

Mingyu looked as if he was deep in thought before saying, "Give me 90 thousand Won."

Jihoon gave him a questioning look, to which Mingyu answered, "It's your eating expense for this week. Don't worry, it's enough. I can work with that and come up with a variety of healthy meal."

When Jihoon didn't hand him the money, Mingyu said, "What? You're doubting my skills?"

"Of course not," Jihoon replied flatly. "But you don't have to bother."

"Are you kidding me? I can't make you stop being a workaholic. The least I can do is to make sure you get enough nutrition to stay healthy." Mingyu said with a firm tone and a glare.

Jihoon was about to open his mouth to protest when Jeonghan, Wonwoo, and Jun arrived at their table.

"Jeonghan-hyung!" Mingyu said to Jeonghan with a pout. "I want to cook for Jihoon too, but he won't listen to me."

Jihoon and Wonwoo rolled their eyes at Mingyu's cute act.

Jeonghan said to Jihoon. "You should let him take care of you." His gaze was firm, albeit he couldn't hide the fatigue in his eyes.

"He should take care of you. You're the one who's having it tougher. With all that practice and thesis?" As Jihoon said that, he looked more closely at Jeonghan's features. God, he looked so tired, Jihoon couldn't help but frown.

"He already does. He can manage to take care of us both. Just let him, okay?" Jeonghan's gaze softened and it made Jihoon shed his frown.

Jihoon sighed before reaching to his pocket, pulling out a wallet and taking some money from it. He handed it to Mingyu who grinned at Jihoon's surrender.

* * *

Tonight Mingyu cooked some garlic vegetable saute. He packed the food in two boxes, one box is slightly bigger than the other. He dropped by Jihoon's place and gave him the smaller box. Now he's on his way to Jeonghan's place.

It was 8 PM. Usually he went to Jeonghan's place earlier than this, but today Jeonghan said that the practice would last longer. The red haired said he'd be back by 8 and he would text Mingyu when he arrived. He hadn't text yet but Mingyu thought he'd just go and wait inside. He knew where Jeonghan put the spare keys anyway.

So, with canvas tote bag in his hand, Mingyu headed to Jeonghan's apartment. He could feel his light steps and he smiled. Well, he's going to see his boyfriend, so why wouldn't he be happy? Then he remembered how people around him said he looked like an idiot when he smiled at Jeonghan (or at the thought of him). Mingyu chuckled at the thought and snickered at those people in his head.

The cheerful mood lasted until Mingyu arrived just two houses from Jeonghan's place. He saw Jeonghan coming out from an unknown car. Mingyu tilted his head so that he could see who's in the driver's seat. It was none other than Hong Jisoo. Mingyu's grip on his bag got tighter.

For a while Mingyu just stood there, watching Jeonghan waved his hand to Jisoo and walked towards the apartment. Mingyu didn't move for quite some time after Jeonghan went inside and Jisoo's car was no longer in sight.

When he finally knocked Jeonghan's door, Mingyu was feeling uneasy. The growing tense in his chest didn't disappear even when he saw Jeonghan's smile peeking from the door.

"How's Jihoon? I didn't saw him at the company today so I thought he must be working at home," said Jeonghan from the dining table.

Mingyu didn't turn his face as he open the box of food and moved the contains to a bowl. "The usual. Eyes glued on the screen, drinking coffee every 5 minutes or so."

Jeonghan chuckled. "We should rat him out. Let Jun do another coffee inspection at his place." Mingyu didn't laugh along.

When Mingyu put the bowl on the table, Jeonghan was ready with chopsticks in his hand. He quickly took some of the food to his mouth.

"Hmm, I'm alive..." said Jeonghan with a muffled voice as he chewed happily. "It feels a bit weird though... Oh, maybe it's because it's not warm."

"It's because you came home late," Mingyu snapped.

Jeonghan didn't miss the irritable tone, but he didn't show it and just kept munching. After another bite, he said, "I'll heat it up."

He was reaching out to Mingyu's plate when Mingyu grabbed on the plate, preventing Jeonghan from taking it.

"I'm good."

"You sure? It'll taste better warm—"

"I said I'm good," Mingyu said loudly. Maybe louder than he intended to, he realized that when he saw the shock in Jeonghan's face.

"Okay..." Jeonghan said gently before bringing his own plate to the kitchen. They didn't speak again even after Jeonghan was back with his reheated meal.

When they both finished, Jeonghan looked at Mingyu. "I think I'm going to sleep early. You should go home," he said gently.

Mingyu looked back at Jeonghan. He didn't realize it until now, but the red-haired had bags under his eyes. He looked extremely tired.

Mingyu felt his heart clenched at the sight. He thought of doing something, anything to make the other feel better, but he was still too full with bubbling heat and thoughts like _"Why didn't you bring your own car"_ and _"Why Jisoo"_. So he stood up from the table. He saw Jeonghan leaning to him for the usual goodbye kiss, but he walked straight to the door and left.

* * *

Wonwoo was walking through a shopping street on his way home when he saw a familiar figure standing in front of one of the stores.

"Soonyoung," he called.

The blonde turned at the voice calling his name and gave a big smile when he realized who's calling. "Wonwoo!"

"Shopping for dinner?"

"Yep, I'm getting—" Soonyoung was interrupted by the store owner who asked for his order. "Two portions of the stew, kimchi, potato dish and those delicious looking steam buns, please."

Wonwoo raised his eyebrows. "You're having _all that_ by yourself?"

Soonyoung let out a chuckle. Wonwoo thought that when he laughed, his small eyes formed a line that looked like a smile. It was endearing and made Wonwoo's own lips curved up.

"Jihoon's not going out to eat with me these days and I'm not sure he eats properly. You know how he can be. So I'm bringing the food to him."

Wonwoo's smiled dropped a little at Soonyoung's answer. He didn't want to be the one who tell Soonyoung that his efforts would be in vain, but someone had to do it.

"Actually Mingyu's cooking dinner for him now so you don't have to..."

"Oh..." Soonyoung still had a smile on his lips, the one in his eyes faltered. But it was only for a split second. Soon, his eyes were gleaming again.

"I'll just get him something else! Maybe coffee."

Wonwoo was impressed at Soonyoung's positive attitude and let out a small laugh. "I'll tell Jun."

"Come on. Don't be a tattletale," Soonyoung pouted, making Wonwoo's laugh grew louder.

The store owner called Soonyoung and gave him his orders in a plastic bag. Soonyoung paid and said thank you before turning back to Wonwoo.

"Have you bought dinner?" he said, lifting up the plastic bag.

Wonwoo shook his head.

"Great! Your place? Mine?"

"Mine's not far from here."

And that's how Wonwoo and Soonyoung ended up sitting on the floor of Wonwoo's room, bowls of food between them.

"I didn't peg you as the organized type," Soonyoung said between his munches. Wonwoo just shrugged.

"There's always clothes scattered on the floor of my room," Soonyoung continued.

"Usually it's the same for me. I never really organize, except for my books," Wonwoo tilted his head towards the bookshelf on his left. "But Jun came over yesterday and started cleaning."

Soonyoung let out a chuckle which made Wonwoo raised his eyebrows.

"Don't tell me, he takes your clothes to the laundry too?"

"He often does that since he passes the laundry on his way home. Why?"

"How can he agree to do everything for you. He must really loves you."

Of course Soonyoung didn't mean _love_ love. But a thought crossed Wonwoo's mind. Maybe, just maybe, Jun's is not a brotherly love.

 _No, not again._

Just because Jun was nice to him, he started to hope for something more. First it was Mingyu. Why is he being like this? To his own best friend. Is he _that_ needy for affection? The thought scared Wonwoo.

Wonwoo felt he was losing his composure, but he tried to not let it show. "Of course. He's my babysitter. He'll do anything."

Soonyoung snickered, "So you're a baby?". That earned him a slap to his arm.


	13. Turn

A few months had passed since Jeonghan signed the contract with his company. It had been a tough few months. Balancing practice with college wasn't easy. The tight schedule, added with Mingyu's possessive attitude, also took a toll on Jeonghan's relationship with Mingyu. At times they fight. They never yelled much. More often than not, the fight ended with Jeonghan staying silent and Mingyu walking out on him. Was it a good it thing or not, neither knew.

Today was a rare day. Jeonghan had a day off from vocal lesson. He and Mingyu intended to make the best out of the free time, so they went straight to Jeonghan's place after college to hangout. With no stress from practice or college, hopefully today wouldn't end up in another fight.

Now they were sitting at Jeonghan's sofa. Jeonghan's head was on Mingyu's shoulder and Mingyu had one arm warped on Jeonghan's waist. They had their eyes on the TV; it was showing an afternoon drama, the tacky ones that housewives usually watch. It was really bad, but Mingyu and Jeonghan were having fun commenting on the many cringe-worthy aspects of it. They're having a great time together after what seemed like a long, long time.

When the commercial started, Jeonghan lifted his head and tugged on Mingyu's shirt.

"Let me get some snacks," he said.

Mingyu hummed but didn't let go of Jeonghan's waist. Jeonghan started to whine.

"Come on, the commercial will end soon!"

Mingyu laughed at Jeonghan's desperation and let go. The older immediately made a dash to the kitchen.

While Jeonghan was scraping for food, Mingyu looked at the TV absentmindedly. After some middle-aged ladies and gentlemen dancing with packs of detergents on their hands, the TV showed a footage of a man in his early twenties, dressed in casual attire and flaunting a bottle of sports drink in his hand. There were shots of the man drinking with a pop song playing on the background. Mingyu knew the man. It's the guy that never stopped turning the insides of Mingyu's chest into bubbling magma. The one and only Hong Jisoo.

Luckily for Mingyu, the commercial didn't last forever. It ended with Jisoo smiling towards the camera. The charming smile would've make many of the viewers captivated, but it only made Mingyu's forehead scrunched.

Not long after Jeonghan was back with a bowl of peanuts in his hand. "Not yet?" he said as he settled himself back inside Mingyu's hug.

"Nope. Too many commercials."

Jeonghan hummed in agreement. Then he put the bowl of peanuts on the table in front of them and leaned his head on Mingyu's shoulder.

Mingyu took of his gaze from the TV and looked at Jeonghan. The older didn't notice him staring and continued to lean comfortably on Mingyu.

It was when Mingyu moved, making Jeonghan lifted his head from Mingyu's shoulder, and pushed his lips on Jeonghan's that the red haired realized Mingyu no longer want to cuddle and watch TV.

Mingyu took Jeonghan's lips in a quick but heated kiss. After pulling apart, Mingyu saw Jeonghan blinked innocently. It was only for a quick second before a grin spread on his face. Soon their lips were connected once again, this time it was Jeonghan who leaned forward and took initiation. Mingyu could feel Jeonghan smiling on his lips.

The sensation ignited something inside Mingyu. Jeonghan was smiling. Because of him. Of course. He knew that he had the ability to make the other smile.

But—

Mingyu kissed back, making the smile on Jeonghan's lips melt into soft moans.

 _He just had to make sure._

Mingyu kissed again, and again, and again. Jeonghan's chest was pressed against his and he could feel Jeonghan panting. But he didn't stop. Until he felt something wet and warm on the edge of his lips.

Mingyu pulled his face away and spotted something red on the tip of Jeonghan's lips.

"You're bleeding! I'm sorry..." Mingyu couldn't take his eyes off the stain of red and felt his heart sank.

Despite that, Jeonghan laughed, leaving Mingyu confused.

"You know what..." Jeonghan looked Mingyu straight in the eyes as he said slowly, in a voice that made Mingyu's sinking heart stopped for a second. "I don't mind a bit rough."

With that, all thoughts flew from Mingyu's head. The only thing left was Jeonghan, Jeonghan, Jeonghan. He dived back into another kiss, with the same need and force, only this time it's more controlled. Jeonghan replied to the kiss with equal eagerness while adding touches to Mingyu's hair and moaning into Mingyu's mouth.

But suddenly Jeonghan pulled away. "Wait," he said.

Mingyu looked at him, confusion written on his face. Jeonghan said,"We're going to miss the drama." Confusion changed into weariness.

Jeonghan let out a hearty laugh. The sound of it wrapping Mingyu in a warm embrace.

When Jeonghan stopped laughing, he glanced at Mingyu with mischievous glint on his eyes. He pushed Mingyu until Mingyu's back hit the sofa and proceeded to sit on Mingyu's lap. "Just kidding," he said.

Mingyu was no longer warm. He felt hot, like he was on fire.

* * *

Jeonghan suddenly raised his hand and waved, making Jihoon and Mingyu turned their heads. They saw Wonwoo and Jun waving back while making their way towards their table. Jun took a seat immediately, but Wonwoo kept standing up.

"I'm having lunch with Woohyun outside campus. See you guys later," he said before taking off.

"He's having a date with the Woohyun guy? Again?" said Mingyu. Somehow he was whispering even though Wonwoo was long gone.

"Why he still hasn't introduced the boy to us!" Jeonghan pouted.

Jihoon said flatly, "We're not his parents."

"But we're like his family!" protested Jeonghan. "We must know whoever he's dating, okay? We need to make sure the guy is decent!"

Jihoon sighed. "I still think you worry too much, but... He _is_ acting a bit weird."

Jeonghan nodded solemnly. "He's taking it too fast. One day he suddenly went on a group date." Jeonghan exchanged looks with Mingyu and Jihoon. They remembered clearly the shock they experienced when Wonwoo told them. Wonwoo wasn't _that_ awkward, but he's awkward enough to ever be comfortable in a situation that requires skills of making small talks and creating good first impressions.

"And the next day he said he's going on a date with this Woohyun guy," Jeonghan continued.

"How many times he's skipping lunch with us for a date with him? Why can't they have a date at another time? Lunch time is our time," said Mingyu.

"The guy works mostly on evenings and weekends," Jun suddenly chimed in.

"Wait." Jeonghan looked at Jun with wide eyes. "You know the guy?"

"Not really, but Wonwoo told me a bit about him."

"What's his job?" asked Jihoon.

"He MC for weddings and various events."

"And?"

Jun tilted his head as he looked at Jeonghan. "And what?"

"What's he like? Is he nice?"

Jun shrugged. "That's all I know. I've never met him."

Jeonghan kept pestering Jun for more information the whole lunch time, but that's all he got.

* * *

Jun couldn't scrap off the huge smile plastered on his face. He might had scared some people on the street but he couldn't help it. To say that he's happy was an understatement. Even when he arrived at his room, he was still smiling.

He sat on his bed with his back on the wall and took out his phone. After moving his thumb a few times over the screen, he put the phone to his right ear. He only had to hear a few rings before the phone was picked up.

"Jun?"

The voice made Jun smiled even wider, if that was possible.

"Wonwoo, I—The Exile, they—"

"That dance crew you worship?"

Jun rolled his eyes. "I don't worship them, but yeah, they're awesome, and guess what. They gave me a call."

"THEY WHAT?" Jun could feel his right ear ringing from the sudden rise in volume.

"They wanted me to try out so I went."

"And? Did you make it?"

"Yes!"

"JUN THAT'S GREAT."

Jun couldn't see it but he's sure Wonwoo was grinning. The image made him grinned too, but he was already grinning so wide, his muscles started to hurt. He laughed at himself.

"So what—" Wonwoo's words were cut by a guy's voice in the background, asking Wonwoo if he's okay. Then he heard Wonwoo saying sorry to the guy.

It all dawned on Jun.

"You're on a date," he said.

"Yeah, but it's fine."

"What are you talking about."

"It's fine really. Tell me more. When will you start practicing with them?"

"You can hear all about it from me. But later, okay. Byeee."

Jun could hear Wonwoo protesting before he pressed the end button. He put the phone on his side and left it there for a while before picking up the phone again. He punched his thumb on the screen. When he finished, he got off the bed and headed out to the door.

* * *

Jihoon didn't bother to look through the peephole before he opened the door. He knew who's knocking. The door swayed inside and revealed Jun with his sling bag.

"Thanks for letting me crash," Jun said when they're inside. Jihoon just hummed a "sure" and started to head back to his room, but he stopped when he saw Jun took out something from his bag.

"Here," Jun put the can of coffee on Jihoon's hand.

Jihoon eyed on Jun suspiciously, "Are you really Jun?"

"Even if one can invent a machine to transform their appearance to look exactly like mine, they can't copy my charm." The answer made Jihoon gagged.

Taking the can of coffee, Jihoon left Jun to work in his room. Jihoon was in a good condition so he managed to finish a good portion of his work and feel satisfied enough to decide it was time for a sleep. Before that he went out from his room to check on Jun. The older was sitting on the dining table with a book on his hand. His back was straight as a pole. He must've had stayed in that position for a long time, but he didn't look tired. Jun had always kept a good posture, never reading while laying down, especially not while laying on the back.

"Get some sleep," Jihoon said as he gave a light punch on Jun's shoulders.

"A few more pages," Jun said without looking up from is book.

Jihoon sighed but didn't push him. He moved around to sit on the chair across from Jun.

"You okay?" Jihoon asked.

Jun didn't need to look at Jihoon to know what he's referring at. "As long as he's happy," he answered. His eyes were still on the book, but they were fixed on one spot, Jihoon noticed.

"But how about you?"

"Same goes to you, Jihoon."

"This is not about me."

Jun put his book on the table and looked at Jihoon. "I guess, we never make it about us."

They both stayed quiet for a while before Jun stood from his chair and walked towards Jihoon's room.

"If you don't go inside quick, I'll take the bed."

"Don't you dare."

"I'm the guest anyway."

"Guest? Huh."

Jun gave Jihoon a fake disappointed look and they both burst into laughter.


	14. True Feelings

Wonwoo heard knocks on his door. One, two, three. Each was gentle yet strong enough to be heard. Wonwoo's body tensed at the sound. He only knew one person who knocks like that.

With reluctant steps, he walked to the door and opened it to see Jun standing with a plastic bag in his hand.

"The wind is cold today," he said as he let himself in. Wonwoo hummed in reply.

Jun walked until he arrived near Wonwoo's bed and put the plastic bag down. He was about to sit on the floor when he saw a shirt and a pants lying on the corner of the room. He folded the clothes, not very neatly but at least the clothes weren't covering Wonwoo's rice cooker anymore, and probably making a mental note to come back when the pile had grown and take them to the laundry.

When he's done, he lowered himself to the floor and sat with his back on the side of Wonwoo's bed.

"I got dinner," he said as he took the plastic bag and started to take out its contents. He stopped his hand when he saw that Wonwoo standing awkwardly right across the room.

"I, uh... Going to eat out after this..." he said. He tried to look anywhere but Jun and settled on the carton box of food that's already on the floor.

"Oh. Okay. Woohyun?" Jun's voice sounded casual to his ears. Wonwoo nodded.

"How rare. It's Saturday night." No hint of doubt in Jun's voice. Not even curiosity on how Woohyun could get a time off from his usually packed MC schedule on the weekends.

"Yeah..." Wonwoo muttered. He thought that he should've act more enthusiastic, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. It's hard when he's not actually excited about the idea of dinner with Woohyun. More when the dinner itself was a lie.

"I'll just move these. You can eat it tomorrow," said Jun before taking the box of food and walked to Wonwoo's kitchen. He took a plastic container from the shelf, moved the food inside, and put it inside the fridge.

"You don't have to do this you know."

"It has to be put in the fridge, or else it'll get bad."

"No, not that."

Jun turned his face away from the fridge and Wonwoo finally managed to look at him in the face. Wonwoo felt his chest tightened at the sight. He knew that Jun knew what he meant. He just didn't know that it would brought that kind of expression on Jun's face.

"Yeah. You're right. Okay," he said.

After Jun left, Wonwoo sat down on the edge of his bed, thinking how he's doubting his own actions. They're supposed to bring smile on Jun's face. But instead...

The look on Jun's face never left Wonwoo's mind that night.

* * *

"Mingyu—"

Jeonghan's words were cut off by Mingyu's raspy voice.

"I get it. He's famous. The more attention the better, right."

"It's just for promotion." Jeonghan looked at Mingyu with weary eyes. "Business."

"Yeah, and then it turns into something more." Mingyu's voice was low but Jeonghan could feel the anger in it.

"You already see him more than I do. Who knows what'll happen when you two start promoting together, going on schedules together, doing this—" Mingyu slapped the rolled poster in his hand onto the dining table. "—this kind of photo shoot together. What if—"

"THAT'S ENOUGH."

His voice was loud and stunned even Jeonghan himself. Jeonghan had never raise his voice to Mingyu before, not even once.

"Why are you always like this?" Jeonghan said. His voice trembling.

 _Why am I being like this?_

"I'm sick of you." Jeonghan looked at Mingyu's wide eyes.

 _No, I'm not. I'm just—_

"Why can't you just stop whining for once." Jeonghan felt his fists clenching. His palms started to sting from where the nails dug in.

 _I'm just-_

"I can't do this anymore!" Jeonghan said, almost screaming.

 _But I still want to try. I want to, I want to._

Jeonghan felt numb. His mouth kept sprouting things he didn't really want to say. He was going to say something else, to try make things right, but when he saw the look in Mingyu's face, he knew he was too late.

* * *

Wonwoo blamed his habit of spacing out while walking. If he wasn't so absentminded, he would have noticed Jun walking from the opposite direction. When he was about to slip to the side and avoid detection, his eyes met Jun's.

The brown haired gave Wonwoo a small smile. When he got closer, Wonwoo realized that he was not alone. There were three other guys with him. One of them looked like he's not Korean (maybe Japanese?), the one standing on Jun's right.

"Heading home?" said Jun in a casual manner, making Wonwoo torn between relief and frustration.

"Yeah," Wonwoo answered curtly. His eyes wandered involuntarily to Jun's companions.

"They're from The Exile," said Jun before glancing to his left. ''Dongwoo, Hoya." One gave Wonwoo an ear-splitting grin, while the other gave a slight nod.

Then Jun turned to the man on his right, the one Wonwoo assumed to be Japanese.

"This is Naoto," said Jun.

Naoto gave Jun a smile before turning to Wonwoo and offering his hand. Wonwoo took it cautiously. His cautiousness must had shown because Naoto was laughing. At him.

"Your friend is pretty cute," Naoto said to Jun.

Jun let out a small laugh.

Naoto gave him a light bump with his arm. "Don't get bummed because I said someone else is cute."

"I'm not," said Jun with a lazy smirk. "Because I'm not cute. I'm hot."

Wonwoo would've followed Hoya and roll his eyes, if not for Naoto's words.

"I know."

Naoto didn't continue. He just gave Jun a glance. The way he did it made Wonwoo winced.

The five of them made small talk for a while. Wonwoo tried his best to contribute. He couldn't feel completely comfortable with Jun's new friends (though Dongwoo was quite nice, smiling all the time, reminding him of Seokmin, Soonyoung's partner in crime on stage). Wonwoo decided he had done his best and excused himself to go home.

"I'm going home too. See you guys tomorrow," Jun bid farewell to his friends. Wonwoo wished he didn't, but said nothing. He stayed silent as he walked away with Jun. Jun didn't seem to mind the silence. Wonwoo did though. It was weird. Jun didn't avoid Wonwoo, but he didn't try to engage Wonwoo in a conversation as usual. Wonwoo wished Jun would have just ignore him completely.

When the silence got unbearable, Wonwoo decided to muster his courage and tell Jun that he wanted to go home by himself. Before he could even open his mouth, he heard Jun calling out to someone. Wonwoo realized that they were in front of the park. Soonyoung and Jihoon's figure at the gazebo came into view.

Soonyoung let out an embarrassingly loud call to both of them. Wonwoo smiled sheepishly as he walked towards the gazebo. When he and Jun got inside, Jihoon lifted his head from his notebook to greet them. He went back to the notes soon after, scribbling some words. His hands moved fast over the notebook.

"Jihoon just hit the jackpot on his writing," Soonyoung said with a grin.

Wonwoo finally grasped the situation. The notebook, the cans of coffee, the guitar on Jihoon's back. Wonwoo thought that he and Jun coming here might disturb Jihoon, but the songwriter didn't show any sign of it. Well, he's the one with the best concentration skills in their group after all.

After some scribbling (and some chatting on Soonyoung, Wonwoo, and Jun's part), Jihoon put down his pen. He looked at his notebook with a content smile before reaching to the guitar behind him. Soonyoung sparkled his eyes at this and turned his attention on Jihoon.

Jihoon's fingers moved over the strings, filling the air with a soothing melody. Soon the melody was followed by a voice. The words that came were about love for someone who's faraway. It was sad, but the melody was light. Combined they made a bittersweet song that filled Wonwoo's chest with warmth.

After he finished, Jihoon looked at his friends' faces, judging their reactions.

"I have no experience with long distance relationships so I was worried when I was told to write it," he said.

Wonwoo, Jun, and Soonyound relayed their favorable impressions on the song, ending with Soonyoung clapping his hands enthusiastically. Jihoon seemed to be satisfied with his friends' reactions and showed a bright smile. It was his genuine smile. Wonwoo knew and his chest warmed again.

"That was great, right?" Wonwoo turned to Soonyoung, wanting to continue that chat and share all the feelings, but Soonyoung was staring at Jihoon with a silly smile on his face.

"I think…." The blonde said as all eyes were on him. Jihoon took his coffee and bring it to his lips as he watched Soonyoung.

"No. I know." Soonyoung's smile grew wider. "I like you."

Jihoon choked on his coffee. He coughed a few times before putting down the coffee can and looked at Soonyong with widened eyes.

"Like, _like_ you. Not as a friend," said Soonyoung, still with his silly smile.

Jihoon moved his gaze all over the place. At Soonyoung, at Wonwoo and Jun, at the roof, everywhere. He looked like he didn't see this coming.

Meanwhile, Soonyoung just chuckled. "Okay, so what's the title?"

"Huh?" A confused expression ran over Jihoon's face.

"The song," Soonyoung said.

Just like that, Soonyoung brought the topic back to Jihoon's song. It didn't seem like he was trying to distract them from his confession. Soonyoung was obviously not trying to hide his affection towards Jihoon, not with the gentle gaze and foolish grin he showed as he discussed the song title with Jihoon.

It was as if he didn't take his declaration as a big of a deal. For Wonwoo it was a big deal. Saying that you like your friend not as a friend? Big, big deal.

Seeing Soonyoung smiling so naturally at Jihoon, Wonwoo felt a sense of envy.

Wonwoo moved his gaze towards Jun and saw that the brown haired looking at Soonyoung with an air of surprise. Wonwoo was about to turn away when Jun turned. Their eyes met and there was a brief moment when what seemed to be pain flashed over Jun's eyes. Soon after, Jun's face turned impassive. It was not his lazy impassive look, but the one seemingly void of emotions. The one that appeared when Jun lost his second competition. When his cousin passed away a few months ago. When Wonwoo told Jun not to bother with him anymore.

Wonwoo wanted to do something to wipe that look off his face, but his muscles tensed and the voice in his head screamed "no!"  
He was scared.

* * *

Jihoon put his guitar beside the table and his shoulder bag on the chair. After a moment of staring at the chair, he walked outside his room and towards the bathroom. Before he could even lay his hands on the bathroom door, the doorbell rang.

The door opened to Mingyu, standing with his arms dangling lifelessly on his sides, scrunched forehead, and bloodshot eyes.

"I…" Mingyu said with his head down. "I need company… I need you."

A hint of pain flashed across Jihoon's face before he let Mingyu inside.


	15. Click Clank

When Jihoon snapped out and glanced at the clock display on his phone, a full two minutes had already passed by. A sigh escaped his lips and his gaze went back to the center of his phone's screen.

 _From: Soonyoung  
North or south?_

The message came a few minutes ago. Other people would get confused for the sudden and seemingly random question, but not Jihoon. He knew that Soonyoung was asking him out for a meal. He wanted to know which one Jihoon choose, the burger from the fast-food junction north of the park, or the ramen noodles from the Chinese at the south.

Jihoon's thumb moved hesitantly towards the reply box, only to stop in mid-air and retreat. It finally settle on the back button. Jihoon didn't know how to reply and decided to stall it. He's going to bump into Soonyoung sometime today anyway.

He did. He saw the blond chatting with Wonwoo at of the round stone tables of their campus ground. Jihoon had no answer ready, but he didn't make an attempt to avoid Soonyoung. As he got closer to their table, Soonyoung and Wonwoo took a break from their chatting and their eyes met Jihoon's.

Jihoon plopped down next to Wonwoo and joined them for some chat. After a while, Wonwoo said that he had assignments to write and left for the library.

"Did you get my text?" asked Soonyoung.

"Yeah, I read it just now." Jihoon was glad that Soonyoung didn't look suspicious, probably accounting Jihoon's (fake) late acknowledgment of the text on Jihoon's habit of leaving his phone unattended for many hours.

"So—"

Before Soonyoung could even finish his sentence, a voice called out Jihoon's name. Jihoon turned to see Mingyu walking towards them, his usual grin on his face. When Mingyu arrived on their table, he exchanged greeting with Soonyoung and sat next to him.

"So..." Soonyoung turned to Jihoon. "What's your mood for today? Burger or noodles?"

Soonyoung gave his usual eye-smile and Jihoon couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"You're eating out?" Jihoon heard Mingyu's voice and turned his head. He saw Mingyu frowning and pouting.

"But I've bought ingredients to cook," he pursed his lips more.

Jihoon knew that he shouldn't fall for his pout. Actually he didn't. But, he couldn't help but submit to _his eyes_. Those brown eyes glazed with fear. Jihoon had seen enough of those eyes. Every time Jihoon said goodbye to go to work, to hang out with Soonyoung, to anywhere. Every time his eyes would tremble, just like the time he told Jihoon that Jeonghan left him.

Jihoon knew that Mingyu was clinging to him because he just lost Jeonghan and tried to compensate the loss through the next person that occupied the most space in his life, his best friend.

Jihon knew. Even so, he said, "Sorry, Soonyoung."

Soonyoung's smile didn't falter, but disappointment was evident in his eyes. Jihoon tried not to look at those eyes for too long, chanting inside his heart "This is for the best". Ignoring the invisible grip on his chest.

* * *

"Hey."

Jeonghan looked up from the scattered pieces of paper on the floor to the door on his right. There stood Jisoo, smiling with his cat-like eyes.

"Don't take it too hard. Mr. Kang was just having a bad day and took it out on you. He does that to everyone," he said as he walked towards Jeonghan.

Jeonghan tried to show that he wasn't that affected by letting out a smile, but wasn't sure he was convincing enough. He could feel his own muscle straining to lift his lips. He did his best.

Jeonghan bent his back and started to pick up the papers on the floor in silence. Jisoo let him and Jeonghan was grateful. When Jeonghan finished and got his back straight, he was met head on by a fluffy blue turtle.

At Jeonghan's surprised yelp, the blue turtle shook. A chuckle could be heard from behind it.

"It's from a fan," said Jisoo with cheerful voice, still not lowering the stuffed animal from his face.

After the shock subsided, Jeonghan realized what Jisoo was trying to do and let out a laugh. It was weak and short though. Jeonghan just couldn't shake off the thought on how the stuffed turtle looked very similar to the character on Mingyu's lunchbox.

* * *

Wonwoo wouldn't have noticed if the person on his left didn't get up from his seat and left the library. He would have spent the rest of the afternoon writing his assignment in peace. But he couldn't do that anymore. Not when Wen Junhui sat just one seat away from him.

The brown haired didn't notice Wonwoo. His focus was divided on his book and the phone that he kept on fiddling with every few seconds.

Wonwoo felt that it was a bad idea, but he couldn't shake off the itch inside him and blurted, "If you keep on texting like that you should just close your book."

Jun turned to him with a look of surprise. In a split second, the bewildered look was gone from Jun's face and replaced by a smile. A sudden gush of warmth filled Wonwoo's chest, surprising himself. This sensation made him felt shaken and he tried to do something about it by talking more.

"How can you even read like that."

Still smiling, Jun said, "I'm great at multitasking."

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, but it seemed that Jun missed it. His gaze went back to his phone right after he closed his mouth, his fingers moving quickly on the screen. Wonwoo should've just let him be, but he was irritated and needed to vent out.

"Who are you texting?"

"Oh, it's Naoto."

Something about Wonwoo's face made Jun had to put his hand over his mouth and hold his laughter.

"You look ugly, all scrunched up like that."

Wonwoo slapped Jun's arm for the retort. The slap made quite a loud noise, earning them deathly stares from the other students.

"You don't have to look so disgusted."

"That's because you're being disgusting."

"Come on. It's not like you don't do this with Woohyun."

"I don't text him all the time."

"Lie~"

"I don't."

"You totally do."

"For what? It's not that I like him!"

Wonwoo's head was filled with the image of Jun raising his eyebrows. It took a while before his own words finally dawned on him. Before Wonwoo could do anything about the realization, he felt another presence next to him.

* * *

Millions of thoughts filled Jun's head after hearing Wonwoo's words, but he had to wait before he could get answers from Wonwoo. They didn't realize it, but apparently Wonwoo's voice was loud enough to make the library lady kick them out. So now they were heading out of the library.

As soon as they passed the door, Wonwoo fastened his pace. Jun would've let Wonwoo do as he wish on any other time, but at the moment he just couldn't. He had to know. So he matched his own pace with Wonwoo's, walking closely to Wonwoo's side.

They kept it up until they arrived on a space between the library and the field. Wonwoo stopped at his tracks and turned to glare at Jun.

"What?"

"What did you mean?"

Still glaring, Wonwoo answered, "I mean, we just met and still getting know each other, so I don't..." His glare faltered and his voice weakened."...not yet like him..."

Jun raised his eyebrows for the second time today.

Wonwoo scrunched his forehead. "Okay, okay..." A look of defeat on his face. "I don't like him and I don't think I will. He's so greasy he makes me cringe. He throws hearts to me during dates, okay."

Jun felt a mixture of things. Relief, confusion, concern.

"Then why do you keep meeting him?"

Wonwoo didn't say anything and turned his face away, focusing his gaze on the field.

"Wonwoo," he said softly. Jun didn't know what it was, but there must be something in his own voice that made Wonwoo sighed and willing to turn his face back to Jun.

His eyes were shaky but they were looking at Jun's own eyes.

"...So that I won't latch on you forever."

This time, confusion won and took over Jun.

"I don't mind if you latch on me. I'm your babysitter."

The words earned him a glare from Wonwoo.

"No, you're not. You're my friend."

"Yeah, okay. A friend's good too. You can latch on your friend."

"No."

"Why not?"

He could see Wonwoo gulping and gaping before finally saying something coherent. There was something akin to dread in his voice.

"Because I'm a spoiled brat that might get in the way between you and your happiness!"

The confusion only grew.

Wonwoo groaned. "I have this... this weird need for affection." He stopped for a moment to look at Jun before he continued his words. He spoke fast, as if he was trying to get the words out before he ran out of courage to do so.

"I like how you care for me, but I get greedy. I want you to always be by my side. I don't like it when that Naoto guy flirted with you. I get delusional, thinking that because you've always been kind for me, you'll have all your attention on me, you'll never want to be away from me. But it's not like that. It's just my imagination. It's like Mingyu all over again. Why am I like this to my best friends? I'm horrible."

Suddenly it all clicked for Jun.

He used to be able to figure out Wonwoo just by looking at him, but he had been too caught up with his shock and sadness at Wonwoo dating that he failed to look at Wonwoo properly.

"I might hinder your happiness," Wonwoo continued. "So... You don't have to be my babysitter. In fact, it's better if we take some distance. I don't think I can be a good friend with all my delusions."

Wonwoo looked hurt that Jun had to fight the urge to hug him. "You're not having delusions," Jun said calmly.

Wonwoo looked at Jun, eyes widened.

"Mingyu didn't mean for you to fall for him. But I do. I want you to like me."

As he looked at Wonwoo's eyes, Jun thought that he should've said this a long time ago. He always thought that it's better for everyone if he keep his emotions all to himself. But he couldn't handle it and as a result he failed to take a proper look at Wonwoo. He even caused Wonwoo pain by not being honest with his feelings.

"I like you. And not as a friend," he said with a smile.

Blush crept on Wonwoo's face, but he didn't look away. "I... I don't know... How I..."

"It's okay." Jun changed his smile into a grin. "I'll just make you fall for me."

Wonwoo pouted "You're awfully confident."

"I have the looks and the charms."

"Let's see you try," Wonwoo said in a confident tone despite blushing obviously. It made Jun felt warm bubbles in his chest.


	16. The Little Things

Jihoon's eyes jerked open at the sound of the doorbell. For a while he lay still on his bed. When he's finally fully awake, he heard another ring.

Getting up from the bed, Jihoon glanced at the clock on his desk across the room. 9 AM. It's still too early. Jihoon was used to sleep off until past noon on Sunday.

Jihoon opened the door to see Mingyu barring his canines in a silly grin. This was not an unwelcomed sight, but still, Jihoon thought that it could've wait at least for another three hours.

"It's too early..." Jihoon said. A yawn escaped his mouth not long after.

"It's already 9."

"It's still 9."

Mingyu ignored Jihoon's last words and stepped inside. Jihoon followed him to the kitchen.

"Oh, good. You still have the soy sauce. We don't have to buy more," said Mingyu as he opened the fridge.

"What is it today?"

Mingyu's lips parted into a wide grin. "Chicken," he said with eyes as sparkling as his teeth. Jihoon couldn't hold back a smile. A few times he tried to keep a straight face, but the smile persisted even as they roamed the aisles of the supermarket. At some point Jihoon decided to give up. Mingyu was smiling too anyway.

They left the supermarket after a good one hour. It shouldn't have taken that long since they already knew what to buy, but Mingyu had this hobby of strolling around the supermarket, looking at new items and checking out prices.

They started cooking immediately after they got back. When they're finished, Mingyu asked Jihoon to prepare the table while he left for the bathroom.

"Give me your hammer and nails," said Mingyu as he got back from the bathroom.

While putting the plates and chopsticks on the table, Jihoon said, "If it's the mirror, don't bother."

"But why leave it like that when we can fix it."

"I don't have any hammer or nails."

Mingyu let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're unbelievable." Jihoon responded with a dry laugh.

As they sat down and dig into the food, Mingyu told Jihoon what tools he should have in handy. He also said that he would come again tomorrow with his tools and get the mirror back to the wall. Jihoon responded with lazy nods and hum, all the while curving his lips into a smile.

* * *

Since Jun's declaration of feelings, Wonwoo had been preparing himself for some changes in Jun's attitude. Nonetheless, nothing happened. Jun kept on showing that lazy smirk every time he greeted Wonwoo. Coming to Wonwoo's place to bring food or take his laundry. Hanging out with Wonwoo, Jihoon, and Mingyu at the cafeteria or the park. Basically the same things he did before his confession. Things he and Wonwoo did as best friends.

If Jun really wanted Wonwoo to fall for him, shouldn't he ask him on a date? Make flirty comments during their conversations? Do something? Anything?

Wonwoo sighed as he sat down on a bench at the campus ground. A few moments passed by while he sat there, feeling the breeze on his face.

Until he realized in horror.

 _Why am I getting disappointed?_

The realization hit him hard. He didn't need mirror to see his face turning crimson, he could feel his cheeks flushing.

To make matters worse, a familiar voice called from behind.

"Hey."

Wonwoo didn't reply. The only sound heard was the rustle of grass against someone's steps. When the sound stopped, Wonwoo felt a hand on his forehead. He looked up to see Jun's brown eyes. He averted his gaze and took Jun's hand from his forehead.

"Go home. You're getting too much wind," said Jun.

Wonwoo got up from the bench, mumbling in irritation and walked away. Jun followed and walked on his right side.

Wonwoo took a short glance to his right before saying, "Stop smirking."

"Why?"

"It's annoying."

"Many people find it charming though."

Wonwoo made a gagging sound. "Yeah, yeah, keep on boosting your false confidence."

"I don't need to false it."

"Right," said Wonwoo in his best mocking voice. "You're not as confident as you want people to believe, you know."

"Hm? That's an interesting theory," replied Jun in a playful tone.

"You're not confident about yourself." Wonwoo gulped. "Which is why you've given up on making me fall for you."

"What makes you say that?" Jun's voice sounded relaxed. It didn't even sound like he was curious at all.

"You haven't make a move on me. Nothing's changed."

"Something did change."

"What?"

"You see me differently now. You get over-conscious when I'm around."

Wonwoo turned his head so fast he might had snapped his neck, but he didn't care. He was busy glaring at Jun.

Jun chuckled before putting his left arm over Wonwoo's shoulder. Wonwoo's body went rigid on the touch.

"See? You used to act like it was nothing. Now you're all stiff."

"What are you talking about." Wonwoo tried his best to keep a straight face, but he knew he had failed when he saw Jun's smirk turned into a gentle smile.

"So you're saying you don't feel anything?" Jun said as he pulled Wonwoo closer.

"No." Wonwoo no longer had confidence in his own words.

"How about now?"

Wonwoo felt Jun's arm left his shoulder. Before Wonwoo could even mourn the loss of contact, he felt Jun's hand slipping into his own, making his heart skipping a beat. He was attacked with a sudden urge to return the hold, but stopped himself just barely.

"Your hand's sweating," said Jun.

"It's 30 degrees. Who's not sweating in this heat."

Jun didn't let go until they arrived at Wonwoo's apartment. Wonwoo let him.

* * *

Wonwoo was sitting at one corner of the cafeteria when Mingyu came to his table, a huge grin plastered on his face. Wonwoo used to find Mingyu's grin half endearing half annoying, but at this moment it was ten percent endearing and ninety percent infuriating. It might be because Wonwoo had been feeling irritated all day.

"So," said Mingyu as he took a seat across Wonwoo. "I heard that Jeon Wonwoo had been spotted holding hands with a Wen Junhui."

With those words, Mingyu's grin lost all of its endearing impression. The brat just had to bring up the thing that had been bothering Wonwoo the most. Wonwoo tried his best to ignore Mingyu and continue digging on his food.

Meanwhile, Mingyu didn't seem to see the irritation in Wonwoo's attitude. Or maybe he's just ignoring it. Wonwoo couldn't help but think that Mingyu was doing this on purpose.

"Wow." Mingyu exaggerated an amused expression. "Wow."

Wonwoo wanted to smack Mingyu on the face, but he felt more like smacking himself for willing to put up with this child.

"What," said Wonwoo, gritting his teeth.

Mingyu giggled before saying, "I just never thought that you guys have a thing for each other."

"We don't."

"Yeah, right." Mingyu dismissed Wonwoo's objection with a roll of his eyes. "I'm happy for you guys, okay. I'm just amused that I didn't even realize it's happening. Best friends to lovers, huh? I thought this only happens in the movies."

"What are you talking about. You experienced it yourself." Wonwoo regretted saying those words when he saw Mingyu turned grim, but didn't say anything. He was still too pissed off to apologize or at least say something to comfort Mingyu.

"It's... it's different," said Mingyu. "You and Jun-hyung are like me and Jihoon. You know. The tightest pairs in a group of best friends. I just can't imagine things happening. Well, it happened anyway. Congrats, hyung." He ended with a pat on Wonwoo's shoulder and a blinding grin.

Neither the pat nor the grin made Wonwoo feel better. On the contrary, Wonwoo felt his irritation growing. Although this time it was for an entirely different reason.

"I thought you already realized." Wonwoo couldn't hide the bitter tone in his voice. "It was stupid of me. You're an idiot. There's no way you'd get it on your own."

"Hey!" Mingyu knitted his eyebrows. "What's that for?"

"I don't know which one is better. Realizing but pretending not to, or not having even the slightest clue."

"What is this about?" A hint of confusion seeped into Mingyu's irritated look.

"I am talking," said Wonwoo, stressing on each word. "About how you're being shamelessly oblivious to Jihoon's feelings and continue to take advantage of it!"

Wonwoo saw the bewilderment on Mingyu's face. It was clear that the younger was having a hard time processing this information. Then Mingyu's expression started to change. Wonwoo recognized that look. He'd seen in many times on the mirror before. It was guilt.

Although faced with Mingyu's pained look, Wonwoo managed to hold down the feeling of remorse in his own chest. However, he's no longer sure he could keep it down when his thoughts fly to Jihoon.


	17. Eyes

The click of cameras filled the room. Jeonghan made different poses and turned to different angles at every snap. He could feel the tense in his muscles as he tried to show his best smile. He hoped that it didn't look so awkward.

A few minutes later a woman in a black short dress came to Jeonghan's side. She looked like she was in her early 20s and had a mic in her hand. After a bowing her head slightly towards Jeonghan, she turned to the camera with a wide smile. Jeonghan thought that she might rip her lips.

"We're here now with the hottest new solo act. After introducing himself to the scene through collaboration with, yes let me hear you scream ladies, _the_ Hong Jisoo, he is finally having his official debut. Here is Yoon Jeonghan!"

Jeonghan flashed a smile to the camera as the woman finished her words. Now there were two people in the room who were in danger of ripping their lips apart.

"Thank you, Eunji."

The woman replied with yet another wide smile before saying, "So, Jeonghan. Can you tell us a bit about your debut single?"

"Yes." Jeonghan paused a bit. He already knew what he was going to say, but somehow the words were stuck on the tip of his tongue. He hid his panic with a smile and cleared his throat. It worked.

"It's called _Next to You_. A song with soothing melody, about sharing tiny pieces of happiness with someone who's always been by your side. It's a perfect song to convey gratitude and love towards your precious one. Please give it lots of love." He ended with a shy smile. Saying these words in front of the mirror definitely felt different from saying them in front of the 50 or so people in this room, also to who knows how many more watching him through the TV screen.

Eunji threw him a smile that looked cunning in Jeonghan's eyes. He really thought that he was just imagining things, but it's hard to believe when Eunji said this.

"A precious one... It seems that there's a certain someone this song intended to address?"

Jeonghan let out a polite laugh. "Then you should ask my producer, Mr. Kang. He's the one who wrote the song."

Eunji responded with the same courtesy laugh. "Well, I'm sure Mr. Kang would love to tell us his story later. But first let us hear yours. Anyone particular in your mind when you sing the song?"

Jeonghan thought that he shouldn't respond with another laugh, but he couldn't stop the nervous laugh coming out from his mouth. Before he could even say another word, a voice called out from across the room.

"Don't be shy. Just tell her that it's me."

It was Jisoo. He's standing near one of the cameras. Jeonghan's manager and Jihoon not far away.

One of the cameras turned to Jisoo, catching him in a close up. Jisoo was unfazed by the sudden turn of attention to him. Jeonghan wished Jisoo would share some of his confidence, but he knew that he's being naïve. He had to earn it himself.

The room was filled with laughter. Jeonghan tried to laugh along.

"Rather than someone, I think of many people. My family, friends, staffs," he turned to Jisoo and feigned an annoyed look. "Yes, you too." Jisoo flashed his perfect teeth and the others laughed again.

"Did Jisoo help during preparation for your debut?"

"Yes. I'm very grateful to him."

Eunji the MC asked a few more questions before they finish. Jeonghan saw Jisoo coming towards him as soon as the cameras were off, but got stopped by a man, producer from the TV station. Jeonghan silently thanked the producer.

He slipped through the sound technicians wrapping up their equipment and went to the restroom. He went inside one of the stalls and sat on the toilet lid, not exactly sure why he did it in the first place.

At least he's alone in here. It's not that he hated being with those people. He's happy and there were no better people he would share his happiness with than the ones who made him able to live his dream. Of course.

It's just that right at that moment he wanted to be alone.

No, that's not quite right. He wanted someone with him. Someone he wanted to share his happiness with. But he's not coming. Jeonghan should stop hoping that he would come to his side once again.

"The sunshine feels twice as warm  
The sky's a hundred times as blue  
Tomorrow is sure to be brighter  
Because I'm sharing now with you"

The song was low, hushed in that one stall.

* * *

Wonwoo felt intoxicated. Nowadays he had found himself smiling like an idiot whenever he caught a glimpse of his reflection.

He felt so happy it scared him, he thought as he walked along the familiar road to his apartment.

He didn't know that love could give him such happiness. It's not like there wasn't any good time when he loved Mingyu. But Wonwoo was small-minded and all he focused on was the pain and anger on being unreciprocated.

Wait.

Shit.

 _Love?_

Wonwoo felt his face heating up and his senses more sensitive. He could hear the sound of whistling from the man beside him ten times louder. Smell that familiar odor of after-dance-practice sweat. Feel how close their bodies were; Wonwoo could easily linked their fingers together if he wanted to (it wouldn't be the first time, but Wonwoo was never the initiator).

"Oh, that's right. Hey."

And right then, he heard him said. Wonwoo had no choice but to turn his head and faced him, the one person who made him into such a mess. Somehow the air around him seemed to _glow_ , like those cheap effects on those cheesy romance drama. It was absurd.

"What, Jun?" Wonwoo said, hoping that Jun wouldn't notice the nervousness in his voice and tease him, again (who was he kidding, Jun always figured it out).  
If he did notice, Jun certainly didn't let it show. "I forgot my note at your place. Can I drop by?"

Wonwoo mumbled a "sure" and turned his face back to the front.

The walk to his apartment wasn't that long, Wonwoo thought gratefully. He could busy himself with something and maintained a safe distance with Jun without being suspicious.

"Hey." Jun said as he sat down on the floor, facing Wonwoo's bookshelf. He had a book in his hand, a small paperback covered in blue. It was too far for Wonwoo to make out the title, but he knew from the empty spot on the shelf and Jun's reaction.

"Don't go through my stuffs!" he said as he stomped his way towards Jun.

Jun looked up to him.

"You've never stopped me before and now I already know every inch of your apartment and everything in it. Except this."

Wonwoo sighed and plopped himself down next to Jun, regretting for being best friends with Jun and letting him roam his personal space for so long.

"Where did you get it?"

"A bookstore."

"I've looked at every bookstore in this town. They don't have it."

Wonwoo casted his gaze to the floor when he said, "It was in the next town."

Jun didn't reply. In fact he was silent for a good amount of time that Wonwoo was starting to get worried. When he looked up to face Jun, he saw his eyes, looking back with such fondness that made Wonwoo felt giddy.

He couldn't took his gaze off those eyes. Yes, they made him feel like jelly, but it wasn't an unwelcomed feeling. They made him wanting to look at them forever.

He was disappointed when Jun's eyes went out of focus as they come closer and closer. When they were right in front of Wonwoo's (he could see Jun's beautiful eyelashes one by one), Wonwoo felt something soft on his lips. The touch lasted only for a brief moment, but it was enough to make Wonwoo melt.

Jun's face moved away and Wonwoo could see his eyes again, looking at Wonwoo with the same affectionate look as before. He didn't say anything and just smiled. It lasted for quite some time and Wonwoo hated it because it made him warm and wobbly and a whole bunch of other things. It was too much.

"Say something," he said in a protest.

Still flaunting that stupid smile, Jun said, "It's actually wasn't how I want to express my gratitude for finding the book I've been dying to read, but then I looked at you, and I've been wanting to kiss you for _so long_."

Wonwoo's face turned hot in a sudden. "We've kissed before."

Jun's smile gave way to a surprised look. "I thought that you didn't remember."

"I do..."

Jun's smile was back as he hummed his acknowledgement. He continued, "I didn't mean to kiss you here though. Thought it could be in a more romantic setting, you'd think it's our first and it would be memorable."

Wonwoo felt his lips tugged into a small smile. "On the river bank? Like in _Sunset Glow_?" he mentioned the title of the book Jun had recommended to him in the past.

Jun's smile grew wider. "Or maybe at the top of Kilimanjaro. Like in _The Trail_." It was a title that Wonwoo loved to the extent of reading it more than five times, and he could understand why Jun brought up that book, but did they really have to climb almost 5.000 meters high to kiss?

"We can, uhm, you know. Not on the top of a mountain, but, uhm, somewhere... nice. It's doesn't have to be the first one, anyway. First kiss is so overrated."

Jun's eyes gleamed at Wonwoo's words.

"Yeah. I'd love that."

The weird mixture of happiness and fear surged through Wonwoo once again. But looking at those eyes, Wonwoo thought that he's willing to face the fear and all the uncomfortable feelings that follow. Just to gaze into those eyes and have them gaze back into him.

* * *

The glow from the TV was the only light in the room. A good two hours had passed since the room turned dark but Mingyu didn't have in it him to get up from the sofa and switch on the lights.

It was hours ago and the TV now displayed a man in a suit talking about the upcoming election. Yet Mingyu could still see Jeonghan on the screen. Jeonghan was smiling. It was a relief to see. But the feeling wasn't sincere and it made Mingyu nauseous.

The man on the screen disappeared, replaced by some youngsters holding up their drinks and moving their bodies, somehow like in a trance. Then there's the sunrise view from the top of a mountain, elephants in a zoo, and so on. Mingyu couldn't keep track.

At some point Mingyu finally got up from the sofa and walked to the bathroom. His hand reached the tap, turning it open. The water felt cold in his hands, but it was not an uncomfortable sensation. Mingyu splashed the water over his face, bending his head a little. When he looked up, he caught a glimpse of himself on the mirror. A shudder went through his body. It was not from the cold water.

His legs was shaky but Mingyu ran anyway, not stopping until he reached the front door. He went through the door and fumbled with the lock. When he's finally done, he ran again.

* * *

Jihoon came home tired but content. Seeing Jeonghan with the CD of his debut single in his hand was enough to make Jihoon grinning the whole night, uncharacteristic of him but screw that, he thought as he bent down to take off his shoes.

Just as he finished and was about to head for the bathroom, he heard his bell rang. While raising his eyebrows at the prospect of an unexpected guest, he moved towards the door and peeked through the hole. A split second on the peephole and his hands were already on the door knob.

The door opened to Mingyu, standing with his arms dangling lifelessly on his sides. His pale face and weary eyes made Jihoon shocked, unable to say anything as he stepped back and let Mingyu inside.

Once they were inside and the door was closed, Jihoon found his voice again and tried to ask Mingyu what happened, but then Mingyu's face came close to his, so fast that he was stunned. The words that were about to come out from his lips were blocked by another set of lips.

Before Jihoon could register the situation, Mingyu's face moved away. Now he could see Mingyu's eyes clearly. They were trembling.

"You love me, right? I love you too," he said before closing the distance between them once again. This time Mingyu's lips didn't just smash on his. They were moving, pushing, seeking something. Jihoon didn't pull away.

The kiss tasted sweet. More than what Jihoon had imagined. Yet his chest was hurting. He ignored the pain because he saw that Mingyu's face was starting to look relaxed, despite the desperation still lingering in his eyes. Seeing them, Jihoon thought to himself. He would do anything to bring life back to those eyes.


	18. Being Truthful

" _Jihoon._ " A gasp came from behind him. "Is that you?" The exaggerated tone made Jihoon had to struggle hiding his smile before turning his body to face the owner of the voice. He failed though.

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing now?" Jihoon said to a grinning Soonyoung.

"It's exam period for the kids so we decided to take some time off."

Jihoon hummed in response. He remembered Jun saying that Minghao's coffee addiction got worse as the exam period was approaching so he had to take extra care in making sure that Minghao didn't collapse from caffeine overdose.

"You're always welcome at the club, you know."

"Uh-huh. No, thanks."

"Aw, come on." Soonyoung pouted at Jihoon's respon before saying, "The theater club misses its fairy..." His eyes betraying his playful tone.

Jihoon felt a pang in his chest. He just made such a pure and kind person lie.

"Ehem."

The voice made Jihoon and Soonyoung turned their heads. Mingyu was standing there, smiling, but the edges of his lips were stiff. Jihoon's heart sank at the sight.

"Oh, hi, Mingyu!" Soonyoung gave the taller guy a smile. Mingyu replied with a "hey" before turning to face Jihoon.

"Ready to go home?"

"Yeah." Jihoon nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "See you later, Soonyoung," he flashed an apologetic smile to the blonde.

"Wait!" Soonyoung let out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Jihoon. It was a ticket.

"How did you..." Jihoon stared at the ticket in disbelief.

"What is it?" Jihoon felt Mingyu hovering from behind. "Hands Up... Music festival?"

"Yeah! It's an outdoor music festival, pretty big in this area. I did try to get the ticket but it was sold out." Jihoon couldn't hide the excitement in his voice. "It's next Sunday, oh my God."

"Yeah. You can take the 7 AM train and you'll arrive with just enough time to rest before the show starts." Soonyoung said with a grin. It seemed that Jihoon's excitement was rubbing off on him. "Just be careful not to get lost or trampled. Being so small and alone."

"I'm not that small." Jihoon threw a glare at him. "But, aren't you coming too?"

Soonyoung rubbed the back of his neck. "There's only one ticket, so..."

"Oh. Then you should go!" Jihoon tried to push the ticket into Soonyoung's hands but to no avail.

"Nah, you go." Soonyoung said briefly and took some steps back. "Have fun! See ya, Mingyu!" And with that he was gone.

"I didn't know you wanted to go to that festival."

"Oh? Yeah, I only mentioned it maybe once. When we went to that new noodle shop, with everyone."

Mingyu hummed in response. It looked like there was something about that information which brought a crinkle to his forehead. Jihoon didn't know what, and it made his uneasiness grow. He knew that he had to do something.

* * *

Wonwoo didn't even realize that he was scrunching his forehead until he saw Jun's eyes. Those eyes could always see through him, but today Wonwoo was being stubborn (or maybe it's not just today?).

"What are you upset about?" His tone was light, free of prying or worry. Just Jun being Jun, the always composed Jun.

"I'm not upset."

Jun tilted his head slightly from across the table. Those eyes, oh, those eyes. Wonwoo _hated_ them.

"You have been, since lunch."

It was a statement, and it annoyed Wonwoo further. But then he looked at those eyes once again. This time it clicked to him. He was just trying to vent his irritated feeling. Towards Jihoon, Mingyu, and himself. Not Jun. Jun did nothing wrong.

Wonwoo bit his lips before saying, "Do you ever feel like I'm using you?"

He braced himself for disappointment, disgust, sadness, anger, in those eyes he hated at times but loved for the better part of the day.

Yet they simply blinked. "Are you?"

"No." Wonwoo was surprised at how fast the word came out from his mouth. He didn't know that he was that sure. Part of him was doubting himself.

Jun didn't blink nor letting his gaze wander. "I trust you."

"You're too kind." It was not a praising tone. Almost blaming to be honest.

Even so Jun said proudly, "I am."

Wonwoo swatted Jun's hand which was on the table.

"Do I get a prize for being such a kind guy?"

"I was going to give you one, but then you went to being cocky."

The pout that appeared on Jun's face turned him from a guy to a kid, and once again Wonwoo became frustrated because he's one very adorable kid.

"Okay, okay." He needed to stop this kid, he was desperate. "I'm giving you your prize. Hereby I declare you free from your duties as my babysitter."

"That doesn't make me happy."

"I'm not finished." Wonwoo fidgeted with his own hands. "You're no longer my babysitter. You're my boyfriend." He gulped. "How about that?"

When he finally had the courage to glance at Jun, he saw that Jun was blinking dumbly at him. Wonwoo almost regretted his words.

Then after a while, a playful smile spread on Jun's face. "Nah, I think I'll pass."

Wonwoo felt his jaw dropping. He knew that he must've looked like a fool, but he couldn't get himself to do anything but froze.

Meanwhile Jun laughed and raised himself from his seat. Before Wonwoo could free himself from the paralysis, he felt Jun's lips on his forehead.

When Jun's eyes were visible again, Wonwoo saw that they were smiling. Wonwoo felt butterflies in his stomach, and oh, how he hated those eyes.

"Actually, I'd love that," Jun said.

The flutter in Wonwoo's stomach grew more intense, it was slightly uncomfortable. But Wonwoo thought he didn't mind it all. Not at all.

* * *

"We should stop."

It was a slightly cloudy afternoon. Jihoon and Soonyoung were inside the gazebo of their neighborhood's park. Both bent over the table; Jihoon with his lyrics notebook and Soonyoung with his papers for class. A usual afternoon. Until those words came out of Jihoon's lips.

"Stop what?"

"Meeting each other."

"Why?"

Jihoon didn't answer.

Soonyoung hoped that he didn't sound too bitter. It's not Jihoon's fault. "Oh, so you can't hang out with a friend after you've become... I don't know what you and Mingyu are, but don't you think it's silly?"

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone."

Soonyoung put down his pencil and called Jihoon's name, making the songwriter pulled up his head.

"Then why are you hurting yourself?" he said with eyes looking straight Jihoon's.

Jihoon's eyes widened. For a while he stood in silence before he packed his things, got up, and walked away. Soonyoung just stayed, watching until Jihoon was completely out of sight.

* * *

"Hey." Jihoon could hear Mingyu's voice from the entrance. When he walked further inside the room, he saw Mingyu in the kitchen, hands moving busily with the spatula and frying pan.

"Hey." Jihoon gazed at Mingyu's back with a smile. "What's for tonight?"

"Chicken fried rice," Mingyu said without turning his head. Jihoon hummed. The smell of the fried rice reached his nose and his mouth started watering. Mingyu's cooking always tasted good. The prospect of eating it made him broke into a larger smile.

But his smile dropped as Mingyu walked towards the table with a plate of fried rice in his hand. Mingyu's forehead was furrowed and the edges of his lips were tense. His eyes were looking at the plate he put on the table, but Jihoon sensed that he wasn't really looking. Those were the eyes of someone lost in thought.

Somehow Jihoon couldn't get himself to ask what's wrong. Just the thought of putting it into words brought shiver to his skins. He should've asked. For Mingyu's sake. But it turned out that he didn't care for him as much as he cared about his frightened self. He didn't care enough and he felt terrible.

They ate in silence. The only sound in the room was the occasional clinking of spoons and forks.

Time with Mingyu was rarely spent without words, though at times Mingyu would get quiet when Jihoon felt too tired, and they would share moments of comfortable silence. This was not one of those moments.

Just as Jihoon was starting to get accustomed with the awkward stillness, he heard Mingyu said, "So, should I pack you something for lunch tomorrow, or you'll get something near the venue?"

Jihoon swallowed, the lump felt hard in his throat.

"What?"

"You're going to the concert, right?" Somehow the words sounded like accusation to Jihoon's ears. Or maybe he was just imagining things. Jihoon was having trouble being objective when it comes to Mingyu these days.

"I changed my mind." The words earned him a squint from Mingyu.

"You sure?"

"I don't feel like it... Let's just go to the market. Get some rice cakes, and oh, didn't you say you wanted some asparagus? Let's just shop and cook tomorrow. You don't have anything planned, right?" Jihoon said. Pleaded.

"No..."

"Good. Good."

But it was not good. Because Mingyu was smiling at him with sadness in his eyes.


	19. Affection

"Uhm, isn't that like, the 20th top you've changed into?"

Soonyoung's tone was free from playful mock, yet it still earned him a glare from Wonwoo. Soonyoung didn't falter though.

"It's just a hang out with Jun, right? Why are you making it such a big deal?"

"I know, I know. It's just that it's... It's the first time since we, uhm, got together, and uhm, he said the word 'date' and I just..."

"Oh." Soonyoung's o-shaped lips turned into a smirk. " _Oh._ "

Wonwoo turned his body to face the bed before crouching down, head bent on his knees. With a muffled voice he said, "I don't know why I'm like this. We've been everywhere with just the two of us. This shouldn't be any different."

He could feel a hand on his back, rubbing circles on it. It would've felt soothing if the voice that came after wasn't filled with pure glee.

"Aw, Wonwoo, it's okay to feel like that. It's what gets the relationship fun!"

Wonwoo let out a whine, only to be interrupted by the ring of the doorbell. At the sound, Wonwoo jerked his head up.

"Well, looks like he's here."

"Crap, I haven't decided on the top!"

"Just wear whatever. He loves you anyway," said Soonyoung before leaving towards the door with a jovial "Coming!".

Wonwoo was struggling with a gray pullover as he heard Jun and Soonyoung's chirpy voice getting closer and closer. He finished just in time as the two arrived in front of Wonwoo.

"Hey."

Wen Junhui greeting him with a smile, standing next to Soonyoung in a brown jacket that Wonwoo's seen him wore a couple of times. Nothing new. Yet Wonwoo's heart was threatening to break from his rib cage. Especially when Jun walked closer and leaned his body— _oh my God, is he_ —

Jun was so close that Wonwoo could see each hair in his eyelashes. The sight made Wonwoo held his breath; so, so beautiful. Feeling overwhelmed, Wonwoo closed his eyes and waited. He felt a touch not long after, but not at the place where he thought it would be. It landed on his forehead.

Wonwoo felt a slight disappointment; he had been anticipating for their third kiss (lips on lips). Yet at the same time he was enveloped in a warming sense of joy. A kiss on the forehead seemed a lot more intimate than one on the lips, it did felt intimate, and Jun just did it in front of Soonyoung, making Wonwoo a little bit giddy, a little bit secure, and a little bit of wanting to whack Soonyoung and wipe that annoying grin from his face.

Wonwoo didn't have to kick Soonyoung out because the latter was not that inconsiderate.

"I'll be going then. Enjoy your date guys!" said Soonyoung before hopping out of Wonwoo's room.

"You ready?" Jun said after he turned his gaze from the entrance and back to Wonwoo.

"Yeah." Wonwoo was still a bit woozy and his heart was still beating in a slightly erratic way, but yes, yes, he's ready to have a date with Jun.

It was then when Jun cast his eyes once again on Wonwoo. He wasn't being obvious, but Wonwoo could see his gaze slowly scanning Wonwoo, eyes widening at the end.

 _Is it too casual? Does he think I'm taking this date as just another hang out? Maybe I shouldn't have worn this top after all?_

Wonwoo couldn't do anything about his train of thoughts as Jun was already calling his name and heading to the door.

* * *

The back of their hands bumping from time to time as they walked and Wonwoo's fingers twitched, the usual "COME ON WONWOO JUST GRAB IT" running in his head.

Wonwoo had never been the one that initiate hand-holding. It had been like that even before they went official. He was always waving his hand fruitlessly while mentally spanking himself to just go for it, and then Jun would took his bony hand in Jun's equally skinny one, ending his dilemma. Wonwoo would scoff if someone said that Jun could read his mind. Jun just wanted to hold his hand. It's more plausible; Jun had _feelings_ for him after all. It's just that the timing almost always coincided with the time Wonwoo wanted to do the same thing, for example right at this moment.

Wonwoo didn't know how Jun could do it so casually. He just reached to Wonwoo, not showing one bit of hesitation in his movement, making their fingers slipped into each other's, settling them at where they belonged. The he turned to face Wonwoo with a face that looked way more composed that Wonwoo would've had, and said "That way?".

Wonwoo nodded absentmindedly. He didn't really see where Jun was pointing at. His head was too busy taking in the feeling of Jun's hand in his, the sight of Jun's beautiful eyes. He didn't really care where they were going anyway (it's not easy, but he finally admitted that "anywhere doesn't matter as long as I'm with you" wasn't a complete nonsense).

Jun smiled before turning his face back to the front. Meanwhile Wonwoo was still staring at Jun, eyes fixed on the latter's side profile.

And finally, Wonwoo decided to ignore the butterflies in his stomach and initiated something. He leaned closer and put his head on Jun's shoulder. It gave a bit of a stretch to the left part of Wonwoo's neck since he and Jun was around the same height, not exactly the most ideal couple to do this kind of skinship. Plus it's a bit of a hassle to walk while being almost glued to the sides, he wondered how those couple did it, but Wonwoo just wanted to know how it feels like.

Nah, what he wanted was just to be closer to Jun. He just hoped that Jun didn't mind. Glancing upward, Wonwoo caught Jun's surprised look. In a moment the surprise gave way to a shy smile and a light blush. And then there were those eyes. Wonwoo didn't know what was in them but it made Wonwoo felt _hot_.

Before Wonwoo could relish the feeling of those eyes gazing at him, Jun turned away. It made Wonwoo worried. Maybe Jun didn't like him leaning like this. But his worries seemed to be fruitless when he realized that Jun didn't try to move away and tightened the hold on their hands instead.

On their stroll they went past a couple of small stores, varying from food, medicine, to clothes. One store caught Wonwoo's attention.

"Hey, I remember this store."

"Yeah, we've been there."

"Wait..." A flash of images and sounds went through Wonwoo's head and everything clicked into place. "It's where we got this," he tugged at the grey pullover he was wearing. "This is yours."

"I left it at your place one time but I forgot it. I didn't remember until you put it on today."

"...Grey doesn't suit you anyway." Jun laughed at that. The beautiful sound filled Wonwoo's head and stayed for a long time, along with the thought of him wearing Jun's clothes. As if Wonwoo wasn't being overly conscious enough.

Wonwoo gradually relaxed through the rest of the date. Relaxed enough to take Jun's hand again after their hands separated for a moment to take something or sit across each other. He leaned his head on Jun from time to time, and Jun gave Wonwoo's cheek a stroke or rub the back of Wonwoo's hand with his thumb. It was nice to be able to feel more intimate with Jun (Wonwoo convinced himself that he wasn't taking physical contact as an equal to intimacy, but he couldn't deny that he coveted Jun's touch). Moreover when Wonwoo was the one to initiate the contact.

After a nice dinner (it was a small place but cozy and had a nice view over the river banks), they stopped by at Jun's place because Wonwoo wanted a book that Jun had.

"I put it on this shelf, but Minghao must've moved it."

From the couch he was in Wonwoo could see that the part of the shelf Jun was going through contained a number of high school textbooks and exam preparation books.

"It's okay if you can't find it."

"But you said you want to read it."

"I can just borrow another book from the library. It's just that..." Wonwoo's voice became faint. "You're going to that show next week, right? You'll be away and I feel like reading that book again." Wonwoo felt like he was dying from embarrassment, he practically just admitted that he's going to miss Jun while the latter go to another town for a performance with The Exile. In his feeble attempt to deal with this embarrassment, he started blabbering.

"Do you remember when we found it? At that small bookstore next to the handicraft shop? Hey, we should go there again next time. Didn't you say that you're looking for a book? They might have it. How about—"

He stopped his words when he caught the sight of Jun's eyes. They had the same look that Jun showed earlier today, the one that brought heat to Wonwoo's body. Jun didn't take his gaze away from Wonwoo until he arrived in front of him, body leaning forward, right hand on the brim of the sofa right next to Wonwoo's head.

Wonwoo felt something from gazing into Jun's eyes. Something that made his heart beat a little too fast and brought a suffocating feeling to his chest. Yet he couldn't bring himself to look away.

Jun's face came close to his own, and there's something soft crashing to his lips. The third kiss.

Wonwoo's brain just froze. He couldn't think of anything besides the sensation on his lips, the sight of Jun's closed eyelids and long lashes, the touch on the back of his hair, and the heat from where his body and Jun's pressed up together. So he stopped thinking. He just did what felt right, which is pressing his lips against Jun's.

He could feel Jun trembled at his action. It was only for a split second before Jun's lips devoured him again with more confidence and more heat. The power and eagerness in Jun's action brought back the suffocating feeling to his chest that was introduced by Jun's piercing gaze, though now Wonwoo understood what this feeling was. It was _excitement_.

Okay, excitement and maybe the lack of oxygen. Wonwoo's lungs were screaming but Wonwoo couldn't care less.

Then, to Wonwoo's disappointment, Jun broke their kiss. Wonwoo sighed at the loss of contact. He didn't know what his face looked like, but when Jun looked at Wonwoo's face, Jun's eyes were trembling.

"Why are you so... So..." Jun stuttered before diving in for another kiss. It was quick but not less passionate. Then Jun moved his lips to Wonwoo's cheekbones, eyelids, nose, jaws; each kiss made Wonwoo felt so loved.

It lasted until he felt Jun's lips no longer touching his face and Jun's whole face came into view, eyes looking straight at Wonwoo but wilting, forehead scrunched, and the words "I'm sorry" came out from Jun's lips.

That's when Wonwoo's heart took a free fall.

"Sorry? What do you mean? It was a mistake? You didn't want it? Or are you... are you breaking up with me?" The words just blurted out from his lips. To his ears, his own voice sounded so desperate.

Jun looked shocked and quickly shook his head. "No! That's not what I meant!" He sighed before taking Wonwoo's hands, guiding them to his lap.

Then Wonwoo saw it, in Jun's eyes which were dark and gentle at the same time. The darkness from lust, telling Wonwoo how much Jun wanted him right now. The gentleness from love, telling Wonwoo how Jun had been keeping himself restrained, to not let the darkness take over.

"I'm sorry for suddenly... attacking you like that." Jun's tone was earnest.

"Attacking?" Wonwoo felt half relieved and half wanting to laugh. He didn't realize that he really did laugh until he saw Jun's pout.

"I don't want to hurt you."

Wonwoo couldn't help but wonder. Why Jun was afraid he'd hurt him? Jun had never been but gentle to him and Wonwoo trusted Jun with his whole heart.  
Wonwoo wanted to express it to Jun, but couldn't find the words. So he showed it instead by pushing his own lips to Jun's.

It looked like Jun got the message. The brown-haired kissed back and put his hand on Wonwoo's back to bring their bodies closer. Their kiss was slower this time. It brought warmth to Wonwoo's chest. A comfortable feeling he never wanted to let go.

"But seriously, Wonwoo." Jun said when they parted again.

To Wonwoo's raised eyebrows Jun replied, "What I have in mind right now..." he ran his fingers over Wonwoo's cheeks. "...is not what a babysitter should think about the child he's taking care of."

It was Wonwoo's turn to pout. He was getting impatient and Jun just couldn't stop teasing. "You're not my babysitter, you're my boyfriend so just shut up and kiss me again."

Jun let out a hearty laugh. Meanwhile Wonwoo felt his face heating up again from his own words and buried it on Jun's chest, bobbing up and down as Jun continued to laugh.

Then Jun cradled Wonwoo's face, bringing it to face Jun's. "Tell me when you feel uncomfortable or want to stop, okay?"

"And leave that alone?" Wonwoo glanced at Jun's nether area.

"That, I can take care on my own." Jun's tone was firm and Wonwoo could see that he meant it.

"Okay, okay. I will tell you if I want to stop." Wonwoo promised him. "Now can you kiss me, please?"

"Yes, baby, yes." Jun heaved as if he was out of breath.

Wonwoo wanted to tell Jun not to call him baby (it did had a nice ring to it, but it made Wonwoo felt so giddy he's afraid he might faint), but before he could say anything his lips was covered with Jun's. Oh well.

Jun nipped Wonwoo's bottom lip and Wonwoo replied with a nibble to Jun's. One time their teeth clashed and they laughed into each other's lips. It was like those scenes in a drama when the leads shared a cute and intimate moment, heartwarming music in the background.

Then Jun's lips moved to Wonwoo's collarbone, Wonwoo's hand traced Jun's spine (Wonwoo found out that Jun's back was his sensitive spot), and from then on the BGM were Wonwoo's moans and Jun's groans.

Wonwoo was wondering how the room's temperature could spike to that of a sauna when he heard a loud cough.

Wonwoo and Jun separated themselves to turn to the direction of the sound. They saw Minghao standing at the entrance of the room with a straight face.

"You should tell me first when you're going to have sex," he said before turning around. "I'm going to Seungkwan's."

After the sound of the door closing, Jun said, "So... continue?"

Wonwoo blushed. He had no intention of stopping and he had revealed that to Jun earlier, but getting caught by Minghao just reminded him of what they were about to do and he couldn't help but feeling embarrassed.

"He's gone anyway."

"...fine."

Jun smirked. Wonwoo wiped it off with his lips.

* * *

Wonwoo thought that Jihoon had caught one when the songwriter gave him a look, but he quickly ruled it out. He had covered them all. He had even triple checked.

Maybe it's the clothes. Jihoon might recognized that what Wonwoo's wearing was not his. It's one of the top that Jun often wore so it's not surprising. The fact that Jihoon recognized the clothes was not a good thing but at least Jihoon didn't see _those_. Meanwhile Mingyu and Soonyoung looked oblivious as they were busy rummaging through a duffel bag.

"Wonwoo, try this on, will you?" Soonyoung pulled out a white button up from the duffel bag.

Wonwoo blinked at Soonyoung's words. "Why?"

"I need a partner to practice and your deep voice and build fit the role."

"But why do I need to change."

"To get into the character!"

To Wonwoo's groan of protest, Soonyoung gave his best puppy eyes. He looked more like a hamster but it did the trick anyway.

"Fine." Wonwoo grabbed the outfit and walked towards the back of the lecture hall, getting himself behind one of the seats.

"He could've just changed here you know." Soonyoung tilted his head. "Oh, I forgot to give him this."

Soonyoung moved up the pitched floor with the necktie in his hand. He crouched down when he arrived at the row where Wonwoo disappeared into.

"Wonwoo, here's— Hey, why are you bruised all over? Are you ok—Aw!"

A loud smack and a whine echoed through the room.

"We need to get those treated—Hmm? Oh. _Oh_."

When Wonwoo got back to the front of the hall, Jihoon and Mingyu had these obnoxious grins plastered on their faces.

Jun still had one hand on a book and another on a bag of potato chips, eyes on the papers and mouth munching relentlessly like they had been for the better part of the last hour.


	20. Laughter

The sky was dark and it was raining, but Jihoon felt as bright as a sunny day because Mingyu was smiling. They ran through the empty streets of their neighborhood, hands intertwined, drenched clothes sticking to their bodies.

They had arrived in front of Mingyu's door. Mingyu got one hand fumbling in his pocket for keys, Jihoon was still panting from the run, and their hands were still intertwined.

After getting in, they finally let go of their hands to take off their shoes. Mingyu took them off quicker, dashing inside as soon as he was done. Not long after he went back with a towel in his hands.

"You look like a sewer rat," he said as he draped the towel over Jihoon's head and started brushing it against Jihoon's hair.

"Shut up." Jihoon laughed.

Mingyu was laughing too before he abruptly stopped. His eyes were clouded with something Jihoon couldn't fathom. But it was something that Jihoon had often seen in Mingyu's eyes lately. Something sad.

Jihoon was still wondering about those eyes when he saw them getting closer. Then he felt something soft on his lips.

Jihoon and Mingyu had held hands and hugged, but they had never kissed since that day. To be honest, Jihoon had been longing for the second time, yet he didn't expect it to feel this bitter. Before he knew it, he felt something wet on his cheeks, and the lips that were on his went shaking.

"Oh my God... I'm sorry, Jihoon..." Mingyu's voice was a whisper. His breath brushing against Jihoon's nose.

"It's not your fault." Jihoon's voice was equally weak.

"It is," Mingyu said as he wiped the tears on Jihoon's cheek with his thumb. That something in his eyes grew in intensity and it brought pain to Jihoon's chest.

"I'm hurting my own best friend." His soft voice sounded like a cry of pain to Jihoon's ears.

"Mingyu..." Jihoon threw his arms around Mingyu and pulled him closer, slightly bending him so that Jihoon's chin was on his shoulder.

He said with his gentlest voice. "Let's go back."

Jihoon felt Mingyu nodded against his back. They stayed like that until Jihoon's cheeks were dry and Mingyu stopped shaking.

* * *

When Jeonghan head the MCs calling his name, and the roar of cheer that followed splits seconds after, he felt his head went blank. His fingers were so numb that he could feel the surface of the trophy only moments after it was pushed into his hands. He didn't even know what he was babbling towards the mic. At least he knew that it was decent enough; his fans continued to abuse their vocal chords and the other performers gave him supporting smiles and congratulatory pats.

He was still in a daze when he walked into the back stage (or, to be exact, dragged there by his manager and stylist, he was too confused to walk by himself). In his absentminded state, Jeonghan opened the door and saw some of his most favorite people; Jihoon standing next to the sofa with a huge smile that brought warm bubbles to Jeonghan's chest and at the same time chills to his skin (Are those white things Jihoon's teeth? What in the world-); Wonwoo looking at him with twinkling eyes from the sofa, his head leaning on Jun's right shoulder; Jun with his lips forming an endearing smirk, his right arm draped over Wonwoo and his left arm over—

 _Mingyu._

Mingyu had his head held up straight but his body still leaning towards Jun. He gave Jeonghan a full smile, complete with his signature canines, but his eyes bore a mixture of uncertainty and something that looked a lot like guilt. Jeonghan knew because he'd seen them in the mirror many times.

Jeonghan took some steps closer to them.

"Guys, I... What to say... I have a lot to say, why won't the words come out, I..."

"Let's just skip the speech. I'm starving," Jihoon said, still grinning from ear to ear. The others chuckled and expressed their agreement.

Jeonghan couldn't help but laugh too. When he calmed down, he said, "No, please, let me say this. This first win wouldn't have been possible without you guys. Thank you."

For a moment the five of them said nothing, only staring at each other with ear splitting grin. The silence wrapped Jeonghan in a comfortable warmth.

"Okay, Wonwoo. Check with the diner. Tell them we're coming," said Jihoon after a while.

Wonwoo whined while he snuggled further on Jun. "Why me?" Jihoon glared as a reply but Wonwoo looked undeterred. He just turned his head to meet Jun's eyes.

"Give me your phone," Jun said, and Wonwoo put it on his hand.

Jihoon scoffed. "Boyfriend doesn't seem that different from the babysitter status, Jun."

Jun chuckled. "You're right."

Jeonghan let out a high pitch squeal that made everyone turned their heads. "You guys are sooo cute. Lovey dovey like that."

Wonwoo made a gagging sound and pulled his head from Jun so fast that Jeonghan worried be might hurt his neck. "Stop. It makes me feel... Ugh. Ew."

"Aww, you're embarrassed," Jeonghan said in a sickly sweet tone. This time the gagging sound came from Jihoon.

"Of course! It's disgusting!"

"What?! There's nothing disgusting from being affectionate with your significant other."

"I refuse to be categorized as lovey dovey couple." Wonwoo insisted with face scrunched up. Meanwhile Jun just looked at Wonwoo with a combination of amusement and fondness.

"Aww."

"Knock it off. I still remember how vomit-inducing you and Mingyu were. I don't want to be like that."

Jeonghan stiffened at the words. If Wonwoo noticed, he didn't let it show.

"You're right. They were pretty gross," said Jihoon. Jeonghan wondered how Jihoon's smile could seem unchanged while his own felt strained.

"Ha, ha. Sorry," Mingyu said with a playful not-really-sorry tone. His eyes still carried some hesitation, but his smile was relaxed just like Jihoon.

Jeonghan tried his best, but all he could do was to lift the corner of his lips slightly. He felt disappointed in himself. He was the most immature in the room. A kid who couldn't let go of what's done.

Determined to change that, Jeonghan said, "You should learn from them. Be a lovey dovey couple", as he flashed what he hoped as a less awkward smile towards Jihoon and Mingyu.

Jihoon just rolled his eyes. "But we're not a couple."

"What?"

Jeonghan couldn't believe what he just heard, but Jihoon was not the type to joke and Mingyu looked at him straight in the eyes, despite still looking a bit stiff. Wonwoo and Jun didn't even bat an eyelid. It seemed like it was nothing new to them.

Before Jeonghan could say anything else, he heard his manager's voice, telling him to greet his fans via SNS. He went out the room for a few minutes and when he got back, Jihoon was the only one left.

"The others went first. Come on," Jihoon said as he walked towards Jeonghan.

"Wait." Jeonghan said as he stood still in front of the door. "Why? You're the one who can make him happy."

Jihoon looked unfazed. "You want him to be happy and yet you're dumping all the troublesome work on me."

"That's not what I meant."

"You're right. It's not." Jihoon's eyes turned softer. "What you meant was you're afraid. Afraid of hurting him, hurting you."

Jeonghan had some trouble understanding Jihoon's words at first. To him the problem was simple. Mingyu and him were not meant to be. It was hard to accept, but it's simple. What Jihoon implied was not.

Jeonghan did receive his first music show win, but he still had a lot of work to do until he became an established singer. He was almost finished with university but had to take a leave before he finished his graduation paper. Recently he started working on the paper again with his supervisor, but it was not as easy as his friends made it look like. His sister was starting to get frustrated with him for "not being there when she needed him". He wasn't sure that he could handle more.

Jeonghan didn't realize he was lost in thoughts until he felt something warm pushing against him.

"You'll be fine." Jihoon said as he wrapped his arm around Jeonghan, patting the latter's back.

"But... I..." Tears streamed down Jeonghan's face as soon as he opened his mouth.

"We're all here for you." Jihoon cradled Jeonghan in his arms, making Jeonghan bending a little, but not in an uncomfortable way. They stayed like that until Jeonghan's body stopped shaking.

Jihoon let go of Jeonghan and looked up to him, reaching to his cheeks to wipe the leftover tears. "Look at this mess. Oh well, let's just say you got deeply touched by your win and cried your heart to me."

Jeonghan laughed between his sniffles. "Thanks Jihoon."

Jihoon smiled.

* * *

"Ow! What was that for?" Soonyoung let out a shriek of protest that lacked of real anger.

"For giving a creepy stare at me." Jihoon answered as he unrolled his notebook and put it back on the table.

"Creepy stare? What? This is my look of appreciation."

"For what."

"This. Spending time with you. It's something that needs to be appreciated."

"Well, go appreciate it then." Jihoon leaned over the table and grabbed Soonyoung's face on its sides, titling it not quite harshly (but not that gentle either) towards the clock tower not far from the gazebo they were in. "Appreciate the time and don't look over here again. You're disrupting my lyric writing chi."

Soonyoung gasped and looked at Jihoon with a serious face. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get in the way." He turned back to face the clock and stayed like that for a good amount of time until Jihoon couldn't hold back his laughter.

"You're a fool, you know that?"

Soonyoung faced Jihoon again to answer, "Of course." Judging by his wide grin, he seemed quite satisfied about that. Jihoon thought that it's admirable.

"Hey." Jihoon said after Soonyoung turned towards the clock again. "Just, stop looking at the clock." The words did the trick and Soonyoung turned his head for the nth time in the past hour. Poor Soonyoung's neck.

"Want to go the bay tomorrow?"

"Oh! They're having that carnival, right? I'm in!" Soonyoung's face lit up before confusion ran through it. "But I thought everyone's busy? Jun's got practice for the competition, Jeonghan's recording all day, Wonwoo's learning to cook from Mingyu..."

"Yeah, I know, wait—What did you say about Wonwoo?"

"He wanted to make healthy foods for Junhui so he's learning how to cook, and who cooks better than Mingyu? You didn't—Oh, no, don't, Jihoon. Bless Wonwoo's soul." Soonyoung ended with a worried tone. He must had sensed Jihoon's plan from the wide grin on Jihoon's face.

"But those girls, what do they call themselves? Wonhui fans? They'd love to hear this, don't you think?" Jihoon said, not even trying to hide the smirk in his voice.

"You know Wonwoo hates having his love life exposed like that."

"Exactly."

"...You're still hung up on the time Wonwoo dropped your expensive coffee to the floor." Soonyoung squinted his already small eyes, looking suspicious.

"Yes, I am. I get hung up on things." Jihoon replied nonchalantly, but it seemed that Soonyoung took his relaxed attitude in a different way. The blond still had that playful smile on hanging on his lips, but his eyes lost their playful glint. Jihoon smiled gently at the sight.

"So, Sunday. You going? I know, we're not going with them." Jihoon added the last few words when he saw the confusion on Soonyoung's face.

"Oh. Uhm, okay... You sure?"

Jihoon raised his eyebrows in a challenging way. "Why not?"

Soonyoung wiggled his eyebrows in what looked like an attempt of a smug look. "Because I'll make it a date. Not a hangout between two friends." It would've been convincing if only his eyes didn't look so hesitant.

"Not sure you can make it feel like a date. You'll probably fool around and it won't feel any different like right now."

Jihoon's smile turned into a smirk and it seemed to do the trick. Soonyoung looked visibly more relaxed when he said, "Ooh, it's a challenge then?"

"It's on."

"Deal. Now, get back to writing! So you can relax tomorrow and have the best date of your life!"

Soonyoung smiled when Jihoon laughed, and Jihoon thought that he loved seeing the twinkle in those eyes.

* * *

"I want to go back to 20 minutes ago and tell myself not to say yes to a ride from you," said Jeonghan as he hold onto his seat belt.

"Hey, I'm not that bad. Jun-hyung and Wonwoo-hyung didn't complain," Mingyu whined.

"That's because they were too tired. They couldn't even walk to the train station even if they wanted to." Jeonghan saw how the couple tightened their grips to each other and scowled every time Mingyu made a rather rough turn. He's pretty sure that would've expressed their dissatisfaction if they hadn't been so burned out.

After what felt like an eternity (at least to Jeonghan), they arrived in front of the building of Jeonghan's label. Jeonghan said his thanks and Mingyu replied with a hum before he reached to the back of the car, producing a small bag.

"This one is Jisoo's because it's the strongest." Mingyu said while pulling out a blue bottle from the bag and showing it to Jeonghan. "I made some for you guys too. It's good for prevention. Can't have all four of you down with sore throat."

Jeonghan accepted the bag with eyebrows raised. "Did I sleep through the last one year of my life because I don't remember anything about you being buddies with Jisoo."

Mingyu gave him a dry laugh but his eyes were gentle. "Just making sure he's not dragging you down. The four of you need to be in good shape for the joint concert to go well, okay?"

"You know what." Jeonghan looked at Mingyu straight in the eyes. "You'll make a great manager."

"No, thanks. I'm content with my current job, and I don't want to be dragging your lazy ass everywhere."

"I'm not saying to be _my_ manager. Seungkwan and Seokmin might want to hire you. Especially Seungkwan. He's been complaining about his manager a lot."

Mingyu laughed, his head thrown back and his canine showing. Jeonghan thought it was at the most beautiful sight in the world.

"You get off at 7, right?" Mingyu nodded in response. "Wanna grab some drinks?"

"I don't think Wonwoo-hyung and Jun-hyung will be up for it. They must be deep in sleep by now. And Jihoon's out of town."

"Yeah, I know." Jeonghan said casually (he hoped it appeared so).

"Hmm..." Mingyu visibly stiffened and Jeonghan understood. It's been a while since they went out with just the two of them. Jeonghan could sense that Mingyu had been avoiding it too, because they knew things will happen if they do, and they were not sure they could handle it any better than the last time.

But now Jeonghan thought differently. Despite still having that knot in his stomach, he was convinced, was willing to convince himself, that this time they could. So he gave a smile as he waited for Mingyu's answer.

After a few moments Mingyu returned Jeonghan's smile with his own while saying, "I'll pick you up later."

Jeonghan smiled wider.

* * *

"Jihoon." Mingyu entered the room with careful steps so as to not drop the cake on his hands.

"Kim Mingyu you're the best."

"I know." Mingyu said proudly and Jihoon squinted at him, half-dumbfounded, half-amused.

"Jeonghan-hyung got the band ready and Jun-hyung took care of the balloons. All that's left is to wait Wonwoo-hyung to bring Soonyoung-hyung here." Mingyu's words earned a nod from Jihoon.

It took Jihoon a moment to realize that there was something on his face that made Mingyu looking at him in glee.

"He'll love it," said Mingyu as he pulled Jihoon for a side hug. "I mean, you got him a self-written song for a birthday present. Even got a whole band to perform it. He'll be _ecstatic_."

"And excited Soonyoung is supposed to be a good thing? Have you forgot that time with the cereal?"

Mingyu laughed, making Jihoon shake with him. The shaking eased Jihoon's tensed muscle and for the first time Jihoon realized (and reluctantly admitted) that he was indeed nervous. The realization brought a smile to his lips.

"I must thank Soonyoung-hyung."

Jihoon looked up to give a questioning look and saw Mingyu looking back at him.

"I can't believe I'd live to see Lee Jihoon do such a cheesy thing."

Jihoon blinked a few times before replying nonchalantly. "I'll be a fool for love."

A few moments of silence before they both made gagging sounds. The sounds later turned into joyous laughter, a beautiful music to Jihoon's ears.


End file.
